Sarkany Secrets
by Sunset on Heartache
Summary: {HPATSF rewrite} Fate is a road. The paths you choose change your fate. Sometimes, the road is bumpy, and it's hard to travel on. Sometimes you get into accidents. Sometimes you do all you can to change your life, just to take a detour and find yourself in the same place as before. Harry Potter is learning this. {Creature!fic, sub!HP, OCs, T for future, SLASH, 'harem fic'}
1. Fate and Free Will

_A/N:: Hello. My name is **Ky**/**Kymmie. **Most of you are probably loyal readers - I'm not good at attracting "new" attention. So welcome back! It's been a while, huh? This is the rewrite to **Harry Potter and the Sarkany Flame**. Yes, it's called something different. That's because there will be no Sarkany Flame. This whole story is VASTLY different. Good news, though: the other one's not going anywhere. In fact, I'm even going to post the other chapters I've got written of HPATSF! (Though I won't be writing anything new...)_

_I just want to warn you all that **Sarkany Secrets is vastly different from HPATSF.** By vastly I mean...not spontaneous coming-back-from-the-dead. 1 mate at a time. More OCs (also lots of canon characters). Less Mary Sue/Gary Stu. An additional mate (because I'm **nuts**). Other stuff that you'll see in this prologue._

_I also want to say that this is the SEVENTH REWRITE. Oh god. I couldn't get it "perfect". Literally I have a file called "Ideas/Rejected" which has rewrites I've rejected, all versions of prologues: "Idea-Plot", "Take One", "Take Two", "Take Three", "Take Four", "Prologue"... Finally I've decided on this one. I've decided so much that I decided to POST IT, therefore making it cemented that this is the version I want to go with._

_"Permafrost" (disclaimer below) is hopefully a representation of the way the story is going to go. Have fun with that._

**_Disclaimer:: __I only own what you don't recognize. The idea for Sarkany comes from the Dracken Species, which StarLight Massacre writes about, originally thought up by someone whom I don't know the name of. I do have permission to use. The song quote is "Permafrost" by Laurena Sigura on youtube._**

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"_And in the taiga everybody knows / that you shouldn't wander where the hemlock grows._

_When the land is vast and the winds blow fast / will you stay with me if the darkness lasts?"_

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**Sarkany Secrets**

_Prologue; Fate and Free Will._

–

Fate is a road. The paths you choose change your fate. Sometimes, the road is bumpy, and it's hard to travel on. Sometimes you get into accidents. Sometimes you do all you can to change your life, just to take a detour and find yourself in the same place as before. But at the end of it all you always reach your destination, for better or worse.

Lily Potter knew this. She knew it when she married James, when she painted herself into a bright target that read "This Girl Is Different". She knew it when she got pregnant at nineteen, when she integrated herself into a life of Not Normal, Whatever That Means.

Somehow...when all was said and done...that night's events still shocked her, deeply.

It had been mid-February when she first learned of The Prophecy. Its name, when said, always had such _emphasis _on it, like it was Important Stuff. And it was. It was about her son, her baby – how he would face great trials and tribulations.

Albus Dumbledore was a great man – Lily would never have come as far as she was that night, had it not been for her Headmaster. But he was _wrong. _Lily could feel it in her gut, even then, this awful, wrenching pain that screamed: WRONG, WRONG, _WRONG._ He wanted to put them under a Fidelius, _hide _them, and for how long he didn't even know. How could they live their life, go about their days, not knowing how long their imprisonment might last? Knowing that their baby boy might go through his first years of life, not knowing the outside world?

_Wrong._ He had to be, because only the cruelest of people would say that was right.

So she smiled and James had said that they'd "think about it." Dumbledore gave them a few days – they didn't need them.

Lily had never had a vision before. She wasn't a psychic, and didn't put stock in fortune-tellers. But she Saw.

There were many scenarios for October 31, 1981. A scant eight months from that very moment. None of them were _good, _but some were better than others – and the best ones all involved her death, and her husband's death. In the ones where they lived, Harry died, and she could not live in a world without Harry.

Not to mention that Harry's death brought on a whole slew of problems for the world around them: whenever Harry died, thousands died with him.

One was an okay sort of scenario. It involved none of them dying – at first. Harry was five when James died and seven when Lily did. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was never beaten. Every year the death tolls were higher, and higher.

She knew she couldn't let that happen. But she knew life didn't work that way.

Officially there was No Plan. Officially, for all that the outside world knew, James and Lily Potter and their baby boy Harry were just sheep following their Leader of the Light. Officially, Lily and James died on October 31, 1981 – just as they were 'supposed' to.

But that was not the truth.

In March of 1981 they began plotting, devising a way to work things out. They knew they had to have no part in Harry's life for everything to work out, and they knew that the public had to think them dead.

David and Carys Potter, James' parents, lived on a positively tiny island in a cluster of about three dozen other tiny islands off the coast of the UK. These islands, sectioned off from the UK and the rest of the world, were called any number of names. The Potters preferred the Dragon's Caves. As there were, actually, no caves on the Dragon's Caves, the islands were affectionately called any mixture of names, from Rowena's Corner to the Corner Village.

The Caves were well-known throughout the Creature world. Wizards, however, knew nothing of the Caves, just that it existed. Wizards could not go into the Caves, ever, without being mated to a Creature or holding the hand of a Creature. The mated Wizards could not speak of the goings-on in the Caves to anyone who wasn't in the know. Altogether, very few wizards had ever been in the Caves, because Creatures almost never mate to non-Creatures.

This creates a very safe place for hiding secrets. Creatures are a tight-knit group, willing to withhold almost any secret within their walls. They're very protective of their little civilization.

There's a small knot of people known as the Union who enforce Creature Law among the Caves. The Union can force secrets to be kept. This isn't very widely known – it is among the many secrets kept by the Caves.

Throughout the months between March and October 1981, the Potter family – now including James, Lily, David, Carys, James' brother Charlus and his wife Dorea – _planned. _

They organized themselves, set up specific dates for things to happen. They spaced it out in those seven months, made it seem like the everything was just going to hell and that October 31 was the big finale, the end of ends.

In the beginning it was simple. Carys "died" of Dragon Pox in the hospital in the Caves. Her husband followed shortly thereafter, and they made the news in the Caves. A member of the Union, a secret keeper, made sure to venture out into the real world to "tell" Lily and James. It was all elaborately planned. They had a "funeral" in the Caves (wherein no actual funeral took place, they had a nice lunch and chatted with some friends).

It began to get more complicated with the next step – making an entire family of four disappear. Charlus and Dorea had two children by that point, Ignatius and Isabella, who were just older than Harry. They worked it into an accident – house fire. The four of them "died" peacefully, "pictures" of the burnt-down house circulating the Wizarding media, friends coming to grieve with Lily and James about how horrible it was that all of James' family was now dead.

The entire plan nearly went to ashes then. Charlus had come over to consult Lily and James about the Ending Plan. The Potters were under Fidelius by this point, and so the only people who could visit had to be allowed in by the Secret Keeper. Charlus, before he "died", was one of those people.

So was Sirius Black.

Sirius just so happened to arrive as Charlus was making his leave. Startled, Sirius did a double-take. Their plan was in ruins.

There was no other way – they had to make Sirius part of the plan as well.

It was hard to make it work this way. Sirius could know, but nobody else who wasn't a Potter could know. The more ears you have listening, the easier the secret is let go.

Lily had hoped that Sirius would be able to take Harry when they "died". Remus wouldn't be allowed and Peter shouldn't be trusted near small children (the Potters now knew he was a traitor). With Sirius in on the plan, that role fell to Someone Else. Lily would not be able to find somebody else in such short notice, what with her "death" being in less than a month.

In the end, Lily and James confronted He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named meekly. That is – by hiding. Lily had Seen that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would cast his Killing Curse at her baby and her baby would, against all odds, _live. _She had no doubt her vision was correct. It still did not alleviate her weariness of the situation.

Everything worked out. Mostly.

Harry did not die. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was vanquished. Lily and James had a few moments to create their golems, a dead Lily and a dead James. There were tears as they hugged their dear friend, Sirius, after he arrived following the attack. They knowingly passed on their baby's well-being to Sirius...who would, in turn, be "killed" in a few days in a "rogue attack". And then they left.

The mostly part came in soon after they left: Sirius, playing the part of the mourning best friend, chased Peter Pettigrew down. The plan was to turn Peter in, so that Sirius would "die" in good name. That plan did not come to pass. Sirius was supposed to be the Secret Keeper, and everyone thought he was. For safety's sake, Lily, James, and Peter had told nobody that he was _not _the Secret Keeper. It was one vital mistake. Sirius never made it to the Caves because he was taken to Azkaban.

That was when Lily learned that, while you can choose your own paths, they are laid out meticulously for you, like a multiple choice question – you cannot choose one that does not exist, and you cannot choose how others react to your choice.

So they "died." The world mourned them. They continued living their lives in the Caves, _waiting. _

Years later they're still waiting. With each passing day their time gets nearer. Pressed together around a newspaper provided by one Severus Snape, the family read the headline.

**CHOSEN ONE CHOOSES MATE: BABY ON THE HORIZON?**

"February," murmured Lily to her husband. He looked up, met her eyes, for once serious.

"February."

Harry woke up slowly, and then all at once. It was still dark, but the sky was lightening in a way that promised dawn. His eyes narrowed as he looked to the warm body on the other side of him, curious, wondering. He'd never had a vision that didn't focus on Voldemort or his movements before - he was not a Seer. And yet...it had all felt so real...and he longed for those faces, just to see them again.

The man on the other side of him shifted, rolling over and throwing an arm across the boy's naked back.

But then again...it was nice here, in the real world, as well.

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_A/N:: Hi! This is the after-story bit where I ask questions. This is kind of a tradition I have for my stories. Basically I ask a question, you answer it in a review (or not), and I answer it in the after-story bit next time along with a new question. Fun, huh?_

**_Question:_**_ Did you read HPATSF? If so, did this live up to your expectations for the beginning of the rewrite? If not...are you going to continue reading Secrets?_

_Ta~_

_=Ky_

**UPDATE:: Kind reviewer just let me know this chapter was KIND OF CONFUSING. Woops. Just so you all know: This is a prologue. The next chapter is Chapter One, and we start off in June 1996 just like HPATSF, before Harry has come into his inheritance. The dream at the end of the chapter takes place sometime after the first Meeting, which is December 1-10, but before the second Meeting, which is in February 1997. Sort of a little glimpse into the future, I guess. And NONE OF THIS CHAPTER will effect anything until later on...probably between chapter 5-10, and it'll be much easier to follow...:) this is JUST a prologue, a kind of "storyline" so to speak.**


	2. Summer, Sarkany, and Secrets

_A/N: Hey there~ Sorry that it took me 5 months to put anything else out. As I said in the last chapter, I was kind of STUCK on how to proceed. I've rewritten this whole thing SO MANY TIMES now that it's frankly ridiculous haha. I think I'm finally settled on how it's all going to go about, and I'm even changing the title of this later on to either Sarkany Secrets: How A Mirror Lies or just How A Mirror Lies... _

_So I hope this chapter is up to par with what you guys "expect" from me. c: I have written so much but I've scrapped it all time and time again, including an entire 15-chapter-long start that was frankly meh and included a lotttttt of angst. I think some of you Sirius-lovers will be happy with this._

**_Disclaimer:: I only own what you do not recognize. :) The loverly JKR owns the rest. _**

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**Sarkany Secrets**

_Chapter One; _Summer, Sarkany, and Secrets

There was something to be said about summer. As the last rays of sunshine dipped low behind the houses of Privet Drive, a certain young man pulled himself from the window and sat on his cousin's second bed.

Much as he would always hate the Dursleys, much as they had made his life miserable every time he came home for the summer, it would always be the most exciting time of the year. It kind of made him sick, actually – how naïve he was, that the word _summer _still made his stomach jump, still made him envision beaches, colorful umbrellas stuck deep into the sand, beach-balls and dripping red popsicles, bike rides and sunburns and sand in areas sand should never be. Still, though none of these things had ever happened to him (save perhaps the sunburns), he lived somewhat vicariously through his loathsome so-called 'family', listening in on their conversations when they couldn't be bothered to remember him.

It was enough, in a way. His childhood was long over, and those things were reserved for childhood in the same way that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy were. (He'd never believed in any of those, either, because he'd never been allowed to.) So hearing the stories was enough for him, even though, at the end of each summer, he still took away a gut-wrenching sadness when he'd still not experienced any of it.

That was okay, though.

He sighed, and smiled slightly. His room was packed. If he was lucky, this would be his last summer here, in this soul-sucking madness he was supposed to call 'safety'. Tomorrow, he would be escorted away, to the Burrow or Grimmauld Place or somewhere else, by an armed guard. And he'd be hoping all the while that this would be the end.

And if it wasn't, that was okay, too. He would only have another month or so next summer, if he had to come back. He'd survived nearly fifteen years here, another month couldn't possibly be that bad.

"Boy!"

For a heart-clenching moment, his entire stomach dropped. It was always bad if they sought him out when he wasn't anywhere around to be seen or heard. Then, as it always did, his fear dissipated.

He was strong, he told himself. This was nothing. He _could_ get through this, and he _would_.

But still, his eyes slipped closed as the thundering footsteps stopped outside his door. The cat-flap rustled. _Click. _The first lock. _Click,_ the second. _Click _they all went, one by one, until all seven were undone. For a moment everything was still and silent, as if his uncle had just _disappeared_, until the doorknob finally turned, painstakingly slowly, and his uncle stood there.

He swallowed.

"I need to release some steam," he said, half-deranged. He stumbled, hiccuped drunkenly, and slammed the door shut.

"Yes, sir," the boy replied calmly.

"You'll be quiet."

"Yes, sir."

"You won't tell, I'll have your head if you tell."

"I understand, sir."

The first blow was with a fist. It always startled the boy to remember his flabby, overweight uncle had once been a boxing champion. His jaw smarted. But he could handle this. He could handle anything.

The second, the third, the fourth blows – all barehanded, blows to his face and chest. His uncle took no care in choosing where to place the bruises, because he knew that in the morning they would be gone, as they always were. Bruises were nothing. Black eyes, swollen jaws, bruised ribs, they could be healed withing eight hours.

Then the belt came off. It was leather, studded with steel bits. His heart raced. His shirt was torn off, and then his pants, till he was left only in his underwear, and he was thrown to the ground.

The only noise he made as he was whipped were several small whimpers. They were not loud enough to make his uncle angry. But the boy's teeth were clenched tightly, eyes squeezed shut, and jaw aching, and if he opened either – he would lose control, and scream, and cry.

It was over soon enough.

There was something to be said about summer, he thought. But then again, winter was nice, too.

–

They came early. His relatives had already gone on vacation, would not let the presence of other freaks sully their good persons. He had already showered and cleaned the belt wounds, but there was no bruising leftover, and no welts were visible after he put on fresh clothing. They still hurt, though, and when he moved he could feel them threatening to tear open again. Sometimes he wished that his magic chose to heal the welts instead of the bruises, but he was grateful nonetheless that he got healed at all.

It was a small guard this time: just Sirius Black, acquitted for the crimes he did not commit nearly a year ago now; Remus Lupin, given amenity by the Minister himself to continue breathing despite his lycanthropy; Severus Snape, his normal bat-like capes missing; and Nymphadora Tonks, morphed to look like a tall, thin man and only the bubblegum-colored hair remained the same.

"Harry," Sirius sighed, mouth lifting into a small smile of relief. They hugged, but Harry Potter pulled away as quickly as possible without seeming rude, unable to take the continued pain.

He eyed Remus for a moment, and the man seemed suspicious, nostrils flaring as if he smelled something particularly biting, but said nothing. He did not notice Snape doing the same.

"Off to Hogwarts, then?" Tonks wondered brightly, ruffling Harry's hair playfully.

"Hogwarts?" Harry asked quietly, tugging at his trunk irritably. "Why not the Burrow?"

Harry had the feeling that something was being hidden from him. All four adults kind of _looked _at each other, and then blew him off like he'd never asked a thing.

"All packed, then, mate?" Sirius chuckled, lifting the trunk with ease. "Let's be off. I hear we're taking the Hogwarts Express. An entire train, all to ourselves!"

"Not just us, Sirius," sighed Remus, rolling his eyes at the boyish excitement his lover exuded. "I imagine there will be quite a few others."

"Mhm, all of the baby boomers," Tonks chuckled. "Probably thirty or so, I'd say."

"What?" Harry demanded as they moved toward the ground floor. "Baby boomers? What are we talking about?"

"I'll explain everything when we get on the train, Harry," Remus promised. "It's not safe here."

"Is Hogwarts taking in all of them? Or just the ones from Britain?" Sirius asked curiously. Remus cuffed him 'round the head. "Right, not talking about this till we're on the train, I forgot."

Once on the ground floor, Snape, who thus far had been entirely silent, dug out a metal ring from his pocket, about the size of a diving ring. How he fit that in his pocket was anybody's guess, but as the others all reached to touch it, Harry followed suit. A port-key to the Hogwarts Express? Why not just port-key all the way to the castle?

The station was littered with a few random parents, none he recognized much, except for a black couple and several young children who all looked quite a bit like Dean Thomas. They all had the same nose, except the man, and shared the same lithe body structure and prominent shoulder bones.

Though he didn't know them, he waved as he passed, and the young children (all girls) tittered and waved back.

"Up you go, love," Tonks said, sounding vaguely Scottish, and boosted him up into the train.

"Thanks," Harry muttered dryly, having been about to step aboard himself when the unnecessary help was given. "Are you practicing accents?"

"Part 'o me stealth course," Tonks laughed, donning a horrific, terrible Irish accent.

Harry kind of felt that accents were unneeded, because Tonks couldn't morph her voice and as such always sounded distinctly like herself, no matter what body.

She departed soon after, only staying minutes longer than Snape (who disappeared, still continuing with his silence).

As Harry walked along the train's corridor toward the back, where he usually sat, he noticed that there were huge, bulky men at the door of each compartment where a student sat. They were dressed oddly, in a metallic-like material Harry would _almost _say was armor, had it not sounded so silly, and were as stoic as the Buckingham Palace guards. One of the armored guards noticed him staring and gave a tiny wink, to the disapproval of the guard across from him.

Remus pulled Harry closer, further away from the guards. They found an empty compartment at the back and pulled the shades.

"Ugh," Sirius moaned, kicking back immediately as if he'd just been doing serious manual labor for twelve hours. Remus rolled his eyes fondly.

"That's enough, Sirius," he sighed, plopping Harry down gently, but forcefully, into the seat across from them. "Now, I suppose I should explain a bit, yes?"

There was a soft sound outside the door, and Harry assumed he now had a guard as well. Remus didn't look towards the door, but confirmed quietly,

"That'll be a guard, then. Not to worry, Harry, all of the guards are here only for your safety – well, not just _your _safety, but for the safety of every student on this train."

That was a first. Harry was used to being the only one with a guard trailing him, and it was kind of refreshing to know that others were now forced to deal with it as well. But a spike of icy fear settled into his belly.

"What is it, Voldemort? Is he targeting all of the kids born within a specific time? Is that what Tonks meant by 'baby boomers'? Why didn't anybody tell me?" he demanded, huffing in a breath when he was done.

"No, no, of course not, Harry," Remus replied. Sirius had fallen asleep, and snuffled softly before rolling over, kicking Remus in the process. "The children on this train are all due to turn sixteen within the school year, that's what Tonks meant by baby boomers." he said.

Harry squinted. What happened at sixteen? You could learn to apparate, of course. It was generally known as "N.E.W.T Preparation Year"... was that it? Were all of these students, himself included, somehow in need of extra tutoring before N.E. ? But – if that was so, where was Ron? Or...were all of these students raised by muggles? That would explain Dean Thomas, but what about Padma and Parvati Patil, who he'd seen coming back from the bathrooms?

"I can see you trying to guess what's going on," laughed Remus. "Your mother's child, definitely. I'll narrow it down a bit. It does have something to do with parentage, though not necessarily _parents... _it could be grandparents, great-grands, etcetera."

So not muggleborns or muggle-raised, then. That would include Hermione, who was definitely not here. Harry wracked his brain for several moments before shaking his head, asking for another clue.

"Have you heard of creatures, Harry?" Remus asked after a moment of hesitation.

Of course Harry'd heard of creatures. His school had hosted a few Veela and Fae from Beauxbaton and Neko and Fae from Durmstrang in Fourth Year. It had been fascinating getting to know a young Neko, who had showed Harry his ears and claws, though seemed reluctant to show off his tail. The Veela all kept their extra appendages hidden, though, as did the Fae. Hermione had said that they were private creatures, whereas Neko generally didn't care about anything, much like the animal they get their extra appendages from.

"What does that have to do with me, though?" Harry asked after a second.

His old Professor smiled a bit tiredly. There were bags under his eyes, and for the first time, Harry noticed just how exhausted his dear friend was. He knew that it had nothing to do with the full moon this time, as it had been weeks ago now. Something was bothering Remus, but Harry didn't dare ask _what._

"Harry, wizards come into their inheritance at sixteen. It happens that your dad came into one – in fact, his whole family was composed mainly of Creatures," Remus coughed hesitantly. "James came into his creature inheritance at sixteen. His parents had not told him what he was going to become...his mother, being born a Sarkany into a primarily Neko heritage, wanted to keep that a surprise, much as her own parents had. His father agreed. On the night of his sixteenth birthday, James became a dominant Sarkany."

Harry had never heard of Sarkany. He didn't know what they were, but he was a bit peeved that nobody had told him he had creature blood. Oh, he was sure most of the world knew, but he didn't.

He did know what an _inheritance _was, though. They'd studied it in Fifth Year, because most of them would be sixteen the following year. Your inheritance happened on your sixteenth birthday – it was the day you came into magical majority, when your magical core was finally fully accessible, where before it was only partially accessible. This resulted in a boost in power levels, stabilized unstable magic, and generally made a witch or wizard more competent. Hermione had gotten hers at the beginning of that school year, and her fingernails and hair had grown, she'd shot up three inches to a respectable five-foot-eight, and her magic seemed to come to her much more easily than it had before. Sixth and Seventh Years would tell you that theirs were much the same.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"I asked if you were following," Remus chuckled softly.

"I am," he responded.

"Okay. Well, as such, he was heartbroken, because creatures almost always, er, _marry _other creatures. It's an instinct they have. So James thought that his chances with Lily, who could not possibly become a creature, were over. However, when he was almost seventeen, James and Lily began dating. This is, of course, extremely rare, as James' instincts would be screaming at him to, hum, _get together _with another of his own species. He held out, however, and you were born.

"Sarkany are extremely private beings. Not as much so as Fae, but enough so that, outside of family members, they do not usually say if their children are Sarkany or not. I doubted James even knew for sure, until this summer, when Sirius and I were cleaning up Potter Manor finally."

Harry's breath hitched. "Potter Manor?"

"Where your father was raised. We came across your grandmother's journal, which Sirius found intensely interesting for _whatever _reason. Nearing the end of it, she mentioned briefly that all of her grandchildren were creatures. And...that included you."

He shifted, hand coming up to hold his throat. He had that feeling, that aching feeling you get in your throat when you're holding back tears and failing. They came, rolling slowly, hotly, down his cheeks, and at first he was not entirely sure _why. _And then he realized that this was the first time he'd ever heard anyone speak about his grandparents.

It seemed so incredibly _unfair,_ to him, that his entire family – or close to it – were dead. Parents. Uncles and Aunts. Cousins. Grandparents.

Remus didn't move to embrace him. That was okay. He was sure that if he was embraced, he probably would not stop crying or bereaving over the injustice of his life, which would be _quite _embarrassing.

"I'm sorry," Remus mumbled, not unkindly, though he didn't look at Harry as he said it. "We should have asked if you would like to come, but we were unsure if..."

_If you could handle it. _He looked incredibly guilty at the unspoken words, but Harry wasn't sure if he'd have been able to handle it, either. And if they'd been cleaning up his parents' house – he _definitely _wouldn't have been able to handle it. They probably wouldn't, either.

"So–" Harry cleared his throat, managing a slightly watery smile, before continuing. "–what does this mean for me? Why are we going to Hogwarts?"

Harry didn't know much about creatures. He knew that there were two kinds – diseased, in which the creature is 'infected' (such as lycanthropy), and undiseased, which is genetic. He knew that diseased creatures would not pass their disease down genetically. He knew that the Ministry had recently ordered a kill-on-sight for diseased creatures, other than those who had proven themselves, such as Remus (the proven ones were tattooed with a small star on the back of their necks). Was that why there was so many guards? Was Hogwarts going to become a sanctuary for creatures who would otherwise be killed on sight? Or...were they being taken to their deaths, before they could _become _creatures?

Without meaning to, Harry unconsciously worked himself up until his heart-rate had risen enough for Remus to tell him to calm down.

"We're going to Hogwarts for safety reasons," he said, mildly. "I'll give you a book about it. Basically, though every species is extremely different, they were the same in one aspect. Gender does not matter. Instead, what matters is whether you are _dominant _or _submissive. _Alternatively, some people call this 'alpha' and 'omega', and some species even have a third group called 'beta'. Alphas, or dominants, cannot get pregnant, no matter it they are male or female. They can only impregnate, whereas omegas, or submissives, can only get pregnant, and not impregnate."

"What about betas?" Harry asked, striken.

"Oh, don't worry about betas, I shouldn't have mentioned them – it'll only confuse you more. Dominants are wont to attack submissives, sometimes, even though there are laws against it. Often that attack turns into either murder or – uh, or–"

"Or rape," Sirius sleepy voice said mildly. "Dominants'll do just about anything to be mated to a submissive, including forced mating, also known as rape. Merlin's saggy balls, Remus, what was so hard about that?"

"I didn't want to _frighten _him, Sirius," Remus sighed exasperatedly.

"But – why would it frighten me?" Harry asked, a bit confused still, about everything really.

"Because, Harry. This train is full of children whose parents believe they are about to come into a submissive creature inheritance," Remus stated.

"_Me?_"

"Yes."

Harry cocked his head, wondering what that could possibly mean for him. Did that mean he'd never be able to walk around without a guard again? Then – he mentally grinned – if that was the case, when he next went to the Dursleys...

He snapped out of his little internal victory dance when he thought about it. "But what's the difference between dominants and submissives? Other than the impregnating thing," he added softly, trying to figure out what was going on here. Remus had said that submissives could not impregnate, only be pregnant themselves. Did that mean...?

"The book I'm going to give you will go into more detail, but basically the dominant is the one who's charged with being the protector, the bigger of the two. The submissive is the so-called carrier of the species. Dominants cannot carry children - they're born without the necessary genes that most wizards have - while submissives can. Submissives are generally the smaller, somewhat weaker of the two...being that they're usually on the tiny side of the scale and only attack when they've been attacked.

"Submissives can be male or female, however. You know that wizards can carry children, right?"

Harry hadn't known. He stared gob-smacked at his ex-professor for a moment, wondering if this could all have just been a joke. But Remus was in teacher mode, and there was no way he could have made something this elaborate up. There was even a book about it.

"N-no," Harry squeaked, grasping his tummy in confusion. Didn't girls have to go through all that weird, excruciating stuff to have a baby? Like periods and cramps and bleeding down there? And didn't the baby come out of the girl's–

"You look incredibly scared!" Remus laughed, looking horrified, as if he'd been reading Harry's thoughts. "Male pregnancies are a lot like female pregnancies, except that our bodies don't – uh – unnecessarily ovulate. We only ovulate while copulating."

Ovulate, Harry knew from Grade 5 Sexual Education, was when the girl released an egg to make a baby. But he didn't know he could...do that. Copulating – well, Harry hadn't heard that word before, but he sure understood the implications. So men only released eggs while having sex.

"Okay," Harry's voice was tiny – he wondered if this was some 'original' way of having The Talk.

"We also only birth through Cesarean Section. C-Section," he added, knowing that was the more common term. "We don't have the – eh – necessary parts to naturally birth. Creatures are different again, but I'm sure you'd much rather read about that than hear me tell you," Remus grinned cheekily. "The book I gave you contains a lot of information, don't worry."

"Okay," Harry repeated.

Remus laid a book gently in his lap. It was called _All About Inheritances._

"You need to read this. It'll help you understand so much more. But submissives and dominants cannot be...around each other without supervision, at least until they've been mated. This is because dominants are much larger than submissives and could – well, force the submissive to mate with them, like Sirius said." Remus sighed, frustrated. "Like I said, you'll read about it. But just know that it's a good thing they're forced apart. Either way... you need to read the book. Sirius and I have to get off the train, the only people allowed on are the students, the guards, the driver, and someone to bring you food. Safety reasons," he added with a dry, humorless grin. "You'll be off in about fifteen minutes. And then... well. Until then, goodbye."

There was a tenseness in the air, a sad sort, as if he was saying goodbye to a longtime friend he wouldn't be able to see again. He was unable to say anything as the duo walked off, somewhat reluctantly, but in his mind he hoped against hopes that his feeling was wrong.

–

Remus was right. About fifteen minutes later, the scenery outside the window began to shift, and the train sped off. Only shortly after the train began moving did he hear the guard outside talking with someone, sounding a bit amused.

"My favorite job, mate. Lookin' at all these lil munchkins before they go and turn submissive. I try to meet up with 'em again afterward, see how they've changed."

Another answered: "Some don't at all. I've just come from the front of the train, there's one in there – a girl, blond – who I swear's already come into her inheritance."

A snort. "Right. Well the one in here, he's a lil doll, Merlin, wish he was around when I was lookin', I–"

Harry pressed open the compartment door, looking a bit lost. Both guards went stony silent as soon as they saw him, though he could have sworn the one positioned with his back to the door was blushing. The other, across the hall guarding that compartment, looked amused.

"Excuse me," he said, a bit meekly. He felt clammy and a bit overwhelmed, but again, he wasn't sure why. This time no sudden realization came to him, but he did sway dangerously, and the guard who was stationed outside his door caught him with one huge, huge hand.

"All right, there, little one?" asked the one across the hall, looking worried. Harry pulled away jerkily, pressing his shoulder-blades to the wall, breathing deeply.

What was wrong with him? He stubbornly shoved away the guard's large hand again before starting slowly across to the other compartment.

"Whatcha doin, kiddo?" asked the guard in front of his compartment warily.

"Looking," Harry replied, sliding open the door. It hadn't been occupied when he came in nearly an hour ago. Now, there were two other students inside – both ones he recognized, both ones he was happy to see. "Seamus! Dean!"

"Wotcher, Harry," Dean said tiredly. "The fuck're you here for?"

"Glad to see you, too," Harry laughed, closing the door. He suddenly felt incredibly less dizzy. "Mind if I join you? Bit overwhelmed at all this."

"No problem, mate. Wasn't expecting you here though, didn't know the Potters had creature blood." Seamus grinned. "Whatchu in for then, eh?"

"I didn't either," Harry admitted, and then looked at him confusedly. "Uhm..?"

"Creature, he means," Dean said, leaning backwards as if he hadn't slept in weeks. "Me, I'm Fae."

"I thought you were muggleborn," Harry said, stupidly. The comfortable companionship that had filled the compartment prior to this announcement dissipated, leaving a bitter sort of tension behind.

"Me too." Dean grunted. "Haven't slept for weeks, myself. My mum told me last month about my dad, I tracked 'im down and he told me he wasn't ready to settle down. Then he started commentin' on my lack of stature and how he was sure I was gonna inherit, and I was so lost, but he owled the Headmaster then and there and here I am."

"I'm sorry," Harry sighed, ruffling his hair up irritably. "I just found out today. Neko or Sarkany, I guess. No clue what a 'Sarkany' is. Suppose I should read this book, huh?" He hefted up the book he was still clutching at.

"Sarkany as well," Seamus said, blinking. "Dragon-creatures. We get wings and scales and stuff. And claws."

"Wicked," Dean said, and the companionship was back again. "Fae are stupid, just those silly wings you can't even fly with, they're all for show."

"But you can control the elements to some extent," Seamus said. "And if yer in Fae-form, you can fly."

"Fae-form?" Harry and Dean asked together.

"Yeah, when you're all shrunk like a little faerie," Seamus chuckled.

"Wicked," Dean said again. Outside the door there was muffled laughter.

Dean held up his finger to his lips, pointed to the door, then pulled out the drawing book and pen he always had on him. He scratched quickly onto the pad: _Keep the conversation going. I've got an __idea._

Seamus and Harry continued chatting about Sarkany. "Our wings aren't really dragonlike, though, honestly," Seamus said, watching Dean rifle through his bag. "They're more like angel wings. The scales look and feel almost exactly like feathers, 'cept when you're flying or in danger. They lock together and become like steel then."

"That's awesome," Harry decided. "Do we get to breath fire, too?"

Dean whistled. "That would be amazing."

"Nah, I don't think so," Seamus laughed. "But it would be wicked. Be all like, _rawr, _and blow fire at some Death Eaters."

The three of them laughed, and Dean finally found what he was looking for. It was a new WWW product: Disastrous Dye (Semi-Permanent Hair Dye For Your Pranking Needs). It was in powder form, and boasted the ability to dye all body hair and no skin or clothing. Dean also pulled out some straws.

They quietly filled the straws with the powder, which was a purple color, and then Seamus slid open the door. Harry was going to take the guard across the hall (who had said he "wished" Harry had been around when he was "looking"), and Dean was going to take this guard.

"Hey," Seamus said, testily. "Are you listening to our conversations?"

Harry and Dean spilled out, too. They probably looked like ants to the two huge guards.

The two guards began spluttering.

"So you have!" Seamus yelped. "How rude. Boys?"

Dean and Harry lifted their straws. Harry blew first, and the powder seemed to fly of its own accord to its intended target. The powder only hit the front of his head, immediately dying the front half of his hair, his beard, his eyebrows, and his eyelashes a flamboyant purple color.

The second guard dodged, and the dye hit the wall behind him. He looked smug, but Dean quickly summoned the spilled powder and it hit the guard in the back of his head, dying most of the back of his hair the same purple color.

"That's better," Harry said.

"Yeah, now they look just as ridiculous as they're acting," Dean added.

"C'mon. Let's see who else is here," Seamus laughed, shutting the compartment door and walking off, the other two following immediately.

–

Carriages picked them up at the front gates of Hogwarts, as if this was an entirely too-normal occurrence. The lead guard, who called himself Eames, instructed them to sit three submissives and one "guardian" to each carriage, and – unsurprisingly – Harry, Seamus, and Dean were joined by the guard who'd had the front half of his hair dyed purple. He looked entirely unhappy with this situation.

"They do this every year, then?" Harry asked quietly to Dean, who was sat next to him. Seamus had also managed to squeeze in next to the two of them, when the seat had only been made for two people, so that he wouldn't have to sit with the guard.

"Bollocks if I know," Dean laughed, looking to Seamus, who shrugged. They all three turned to the thus-far silent guard.

"Usually," he agreed. "The last few years though, there were no submissives here. That's because sixteen years before then had been a dry period for most creatures, who were too afraid to bring young into a warzone where they might be killed by You-Know-Who for being creatures."

"But there are tons of us, and sixteen years ago the war was still going on!" Harry protested.

"Right you are," the guard chuckled. "It couldn't last forever, and with the creatures dropping like flies, they felt the need to continue reproducing. 1980 is what we called the Boom Year, but really it was the end of 1979 all the way through till a handful of years ago. 1980 was only the beginning. There's thirty-two of you exactly, gathered from all around Britain – even previously homeschooled children. France, America, Bulgaria, all of the major magical countries will likely have others. I'd say there's probably a good hundred-fifty submissives this year."

"That's a rise of over 500 percent!" Seamus exclaimed.

"Yeah," the guard outright laughed this time. "There's a lot more dominants, too. Probably two-fifty instead of the usually fifty or sixty. We might have to extend the Hall of Gathering this year!"

As they pulled up to the castle, Harry clutched his book and sincerely hoped that it would cover all of these numbers and tell him about the Gathering Hall, because otherwise, he was totally lost.

–

Severus Snape sighed irritably. He felt like those two words summed up his entire life: _sighed irritably. _It was to his utmost disgust that he would have to speak to that mongrel, and not only _speak _to him, but speak to him _privately. _

When the wolf and the mutt got off the train, only ten or fifteen minutes before departure, Lupin was berating Black quietly. Snape could hear the tones, but couldn't make out the words from this distance, however ample his hearing may be. Black noticed him first, looking over his lover's shoulder (and god did _that _thought make him shudder), and sighed wearily. If that wasn't enough to stroke Severus' ego, the fact that Black actually took Lupin by the shoulder and murmured something before joining Severus _was. _He didn't even have to go seek him out.

They walked briskly until they were out of earshot of nosy werewolves. Severus knew that Lupin was watching them go, but he actually literally couldn't care less. At the moment, this did not include him.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he growled. Sirius, who, while not having come into his promised inheritance, was as good as a submissive. He flinched, stepping back a little bit further.

"About?"

"Don't play coy with me, Black, you know full well what _about._"

Sirius ruffled his hair up much like James Potter did on occasion. "I couldn't just tell him _no,_ you ignorant fuck," he snapped finally. "Remus is actually _mourning. _You know, and _I _know, but for fuck's sake, Remus can't be told. So cleaning up our brother's home fifteen years after his so-called _death _was necessary. It's what normal people do."

"You couldn't have put it off for a few more months? Surely until December, at least?" Severus asked, teeth bared.

"Look, Snape. It was _necessary. _What about that word do you _not _understand? Not only did I find a plausible way to bring up Harry's inheritance, but Remus was not going to put it off any further. The only reason he did before was because he couldn't do it alone. Now, with me out of Azkaban and cleared of all crimes..."

Severus shook his head, fed up. "And what about your impending _death_? It was supposed to happen six weeks ago."

"I-I," Sirius gulped. Aha. Severus had cornered him.

"Yes, quite," he smirked. "What will your _brother _think? You've ratted them out?"

"I just couldn't do that, it seemed so unfair," Sirius snarled. He looked well and truly like the Sarkany he should have become, lo those twenty years ago. "I don't need to explain my motives to you, Snivellus. I'll have you know they were excruciating for me to go against my word, to _them _of all people."

Severus looked at Sirius with hatred in his eyes. If looks could kill, Sirius would be naught but a pile of ashes right now. "Practicing your vocabulary, mutt?"

Petty insults. This conversation had degraded too far to be allowed. As Sirius snapped something quite abrasive, Severus turned away with hardly a roll of his eye.

"December," he reminded the man, unemotionally.

"Fuck off," insisted Sirius.

They parted ways.

* * *

_How was that? :D I got a shocking TWENTY-TWO reviews for a PROLOGUE, which was beautiful. I think I'll upload another one of the chapters I'd written for HPATSF after this..._

**_Answer: _**_Last chapter I asked a question I can't really answer myself, haha ('did you read HPATSF' and such), so no answer. :)_

**_New Question: What do you think of when you hear 'summer'?_**

**_If you guys have any questions or comments, are confused about anything, etc. don't hesitate to contact me!_**

Love Ky


	3. Rooms and Reading and Reluctance

_A/N:: :) Glad to see some of my loyal readers are still enjoying SS! And I've decided not to change the name of the story (because I have a new plot bunny for that one shh), so. :) Here's chapter 2 before I chicken out and rewrite it all again. _

**_Disclaimer::_**_ **As always, I don't own anything you recognize... sadly. JKR is our queen.**_

* * *

**Sarkany Secrets**

_Chapter Two; Rooms and Reading and Reluctance_

To Harry, arriving at the castle nearly three months early still felt quite close to being an Ickle Firstie. Fifteen students huddled together in the entrance hall, about half he recognized from school but some he only recognized from the train, such as the small blond girl, the Asian boy-girl twins, a redhead who looked so much like a Weasley from behind that Harry thought he was looking at Ginny (until she turned around, and proved that her eyes were a hazel color and her face lacked any freckles, which had migrated instead to her arms), and so on.

One thing that was different, though, was that instead of Professor McGonagall coming out with a stool and the Sorting Hat, she came out empty-handed, smiling at them gently. He noticed that everyone around them had been being extremely kind and gentle.

"Come along. We'll eat dinner and then I will assign your rooms."

They all ate at the Hufflepuff table, which was the only one remaining in the Great Hall and had been turned to run parallel to the staff table. The guards took up over half the table themselves, and there seemed to be one for each of them, plus Eames, who did not eat. The meal was not lavish, just simple choices and nothing heavy, like rich soups or breads.

When dinner had cleared there was ice cream for dessert. Harry had barely finished eating his meal, let alone left room for dessert, and as such used the time to examine who all he recognized.

There were, of course, the Patil twins, Seamus, and Dean. There was also Terry Boot and Su Li from Ravenclaw, Anthony Goldstein and Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff, Morag MacDougal and Daphne Greengrass from Slytherin, and even more. But what surprised him the most was the girl sitting just down the way from Harry, wide blue eyes staring around at everything.

"What's she doing here?" he asked Seamus quietly, nodding to Luna Lovegood. "I thought it was only people turning sixteen this year?"

"Yeah," Seamus nodded. "But if you turn eleven after the school year starts, you're automatically bumped into the next school year. That's why Hermione's in this Year, instead of already being in Seventh Year."

"So...Luna will turn sixteen this school year, okay," Harry agreed. "But...didn't that guard say that there's thirty-two of us? I think I'm miscounting."

"The majority have probably already come into their inheritance," Dean pointed out. "Only the people turning sixteen anytime soon, in the next five months or so, are here, probably."

They were interrupted by McGonagall, who stood and clapped her hands once. There weren't many teachers here yet, just herself, Snape, Dumbledore, and Hagrid.

"Alright," she announced. "If you'll all follow me, please."

They followed her in a skewed line, which doubled or tripled in places, and she led them through the castle. Outside of the Great Hall she guided them through a portrait of a dragon, a bird of prey, a tiger, and a small human that had wings. Harry had seen this portrait used, but only scarcely. Behind it was a stone corridor that led them in twists and turns to the bottom of a staircase, which, as soon as they got on, started moving. Some of the group was left behind, but they were quick to follow – within seconds a new staircase had replaced this one. They seemed to phase right through each other as if they were only holograms, which didn't make Harry feel very good.

It dropped them off on what was surely the fourth or fifth floor, but Harry had never seen this corridor. He felt the need to pull out the Map, but didn't want to draw attention to himself.

It was lined with windows instead of portraits, and each showed a slightly different scene, from the Forbidden Forest all the way to the Black Lake, as if Hogwarts had suddenly unfolded to become one wall, and all the scenery was lined up across it.

"These are our guest quarters," McGonagall informed them, pointing to the large doors that were dotted on either side of the corridor. The hurried up a large, grand staircase. "We may end up having to put use to some of them, but you all will get a room in the Creature Corridor."

As she said "Creature Corridor," she came to a large marble rotunda with a fountain in the center. There were portraits of many different creatures all around the room, and the fountain had a naked Neko in the center, caressing the face of a Veela (who was in a similar state of dress).

"To get into the Creature Corridor you must simply ask," McGonagall stated grimly. "This is how we keep non-creature students, unmated dominants, and ill-wishers away. Note that all teachers _do _have some amount of creature blood. The Neko in the fountain will point you to the current portrait, which you must simply tap with your wand."

She politely asked the Neko to allow her access into the Creature Corridor. After a second, she moved to one of the many portraits, tapped it with her wand, and nodded to them all before disappearing.

They all tried it one by one, being sent to different portraits. When it was Harry's turn, he asked for passage, and the Neko seemed to smile as a ghostly arrow shot out of his pointed finger. It curved, smacking a portrait of a Veela cowering from a dragon and lighting it up bright white.

Behind the portrait was a circular corridor. Across from every portrait hole was a door, and he figured that those were the rooms.

The corridor, though, was probably twenty feet across, three or four Harries could probably lay head-to-foot and barely touch it. It was carpeted in a plush, khaki color.

Harry turned and wandered down the corridor until he found the group, which had grown larger in the time it took for him to find them.

The new additions were obviously different, though. They all kind of had an _air _about them that demanded gentleness, as if they would shatter if they hit the ground too hard. When the last few stragglers from the original group joined them, Harry mentally counted, and the guards were right – thirty-two of them.  
The group seemed to startle McGonagall as well, who laid her hand over her heart. "My. This _is _ one for the history books!"

"We'll have to take a picture of them all together," agreed Eames, standing next to her. "Perhaps at the December gathering, so that we can see all of them from this year."

"Quite," McGonagall laughed. "I wouldn't believe it if I weren't seeing it with my own two eyes!"

The rules were explained to them by Professor McGonagall in a very no-nonsense tone of voice. One: they were not to leave the corridor without a guard (or four). Two: they were not to invite anyone but other submissives into their rooms, at least not until they were mated. The guards were not allowed in their rooms either. Three: They were free to roam the castle and grounds to their heart's content until September first, after which, there was rule number four (no leaving the corridor at all, no excuses, unless by Floo to a class or during a scheduled outing that McGonagall and Dumbledore have approved.) Five: they were basically princesses locked in a tower waiting for their prince charming.

Okay, the last one was made up, but the rules seemed to expand on and on, greatly limiting their freedom. He was told that they would have a class with each Professor once a week, and the rest of the time they would be expected to keep up with their work independently. Though this was not fair (it wasn't like he asked for this inheritance) he didn't argue, because he knew he worked better alone, anyways.

Afterward, she'd smiled and said, "Congratulations on your inheritances." Harry thought this seemed a lot like saying "Congratulations on your face," because it wasn't as if they'd had anything to do with their inheritances, but again, he said nothing as she began to assign rooms.

It turned out that there was exactly thirty-five rooms, so there were three left over at the end of this. As their rooms were given out based on birth date, Harry and Seamus were one door down from each other (one of the girls he didn't recognize, a small blond, was born between July 30th and August 5th). Dean was five doors down from Seamus. The youngest duo, the boy-girl twins Harry learned were named Thad and Anya, were three doors down from the oldest, a girl who had turned sixteen on January first, Eliza.

The door happened to have a keyhole, and his key came on a necklace. Harry could only imagine losing it, but Professor McGonagall assured him that it was impossible for him to lose it, as it would always come back to him.

He sighed, fumbling to fit the key into the door's lock, and _felt _as the locking wards shimmered and allowed him entrance.

The rooms were absolutely amazing – his breath rushed out of him and he peered around.

Directly as you walked in was the common room. It was a living room – with a large couch on either side of a glass coffee table. The carpeting was the same as the hallway, plush, thick, cream-colored. When you walked in, the doorway had a little patch of real, stone tiling for putting your shoes. Harry proceeded to do so.

Across from the door, on the opposite side of the common room, was a wall with a walk-in fireplace. A fire was already going. The mantel held a large mirror and a pot of Floo power. On either side of the fireplace was a stairwell. Each stairwell held four or five steps and led to a communal landing where there was a bathroom, and then led up five more steps into a large hallway. The hallway had, at one end, a master bedroom, and the other, a second bedroom. In the middle were a few more doors – one was a linen closet, and the french doors led to a spacious office, where a desk was placed.

The master bedroom was huge! Harry gaped as he took in the incredibly plush carpet, a slightly different shade than the rest of the quarters, the walk-in closet, the master bathroom, and the bed. Oh, the bed. It was big enough to fit ten Harries! He walked over to it, distinctly impressed, and crawled in.

The other bedroom was completely empty, but it had an indent in one wall that was big enough to fit a small bed in, and opposite that was a large bay window.

Back in the common areas, Harry peeked around further. There was a walkway on either side of the room, on either side of the staircases. Harry walked through one and saw that it led to the kitchenette, and then a walk-in dining room. The whole area was open, and could be accessed from either side of the quarters.

Harry found his things upstairs in the master bedroom and put them away slowly, but meticulously. When he examined the rooms after he was finished, his stomach dropped and he felt incredibly sad.

He didn't have enough things to fill up these quarters. They looked incredibly empty, and Harry found himself dreading living here all by himself.

As he was contemplating this, sniffling, there was a knock at his door. He turned, cocking his head, and darted to answer it, his quick movements pulling slightly at the scabs under his clothing.

It was Professor McGonagall. She hooked his Floo up to the network under the name "Harry Potter," and smiled softly and told him that the other submissives would have their name as their Floo address as well, and that there was an alarm on it that allowed him to accept or reject calls so his "privacy" was preserved if he happened to be "copulating with his mate" when they came through.

He'd blushed, stammered, and assured McGonagall he would not be "copulating" near the hearth.

When his foreboding professor finally left, Harry sighed in relief and peeked his head out his door. A few girls were milling around down the hallway and waved at him, but he didn't acknowledge them (though he thought that they were Padma and Parvati Patil and Daphne Greengrass, he wasn't in the mood to talk). This backfired a moment later because, while he was examining the large guard lounging in the corridor, the door next to his opened. It was the small blond he'd noticed earlier, but 'small' was a kind of general term – she was short and thin compared to the large guard, but Harry was sure there wasn't even an inch different between the two of them, and they probably wore the same size pants.

"Hi," she said, kind of breathlessly. Her accent was American, and she sounded both overexcited and overwhelmed. Harry kind of felt the same.

"'Lo," he nodded, wondering if it would be rude to turn and head back inside.

"I'm Lexi," she continued. "I'm new here. Obviously. I, uh, I... yeah," she finished lamely.

"I'm Harry." he stated, bluntly. But then he felt the urge to continue the conversation, and asked, "Why'd you come to Hogwarts?"

"Oh, well, you know, I was actually born here. My parents were here for a year and I kind of...interrupted that, you could say. I was homeschooled though, because Salem wouldn't take me because I wasn't a citizen and my parents didn't want me this far away, till now, when it's become a necessity," Lexi gasped out, all in one breath.

"Oh," Harry smiled, not unkindly. "But aren't you going to be homesick?"

"Probably," Lexi did that breathless little laugh again, as if she couldn't believe this was all actually happening. "But I'm so excited, this is all so much to take in, it's... it's..."

"Wicked," offered Seamus, coming up behind Harry and scaring the hell right out of him. Dean was with him, too.

"Amazing," Dean put in.

"Overwhelming," Harry decided, cocking an eyebrow at his friends.

"All of the above!" Lexi squeaked. "I always knew I was going to be a creature – Veela runs in my family – but I didn't really know what to expect."

"Well," Harry muttered. "Lucky you. I just found out today."

"Don't be a spoil-sport, Har, the poor girl's nearly excited herself into a heart-attack," Seamus berated. "Don't mind him."

Harry departed a few minutes later, because he wanted to read the book Remus had given him – "All About Inheritances." He wanted to know the lingo – he wanted to know what mating was, how it effected him. He wanted to know about submissives and dominants, and impregnating and being pregnant, and why all of this was happening.

He severely doubted the book could answer the last question.

–

**All About Inheritance** by Giovanni Gale

Section One: **World Views on Creature Blood**

_It's well-known throughout the Wizarding World that blood is a big deal. Whether you're Pure, or Half, or Squib, or Muggleborn, you've heard the slurs thrown at you by someone of a different blood type. So a question comes to mind when you think about Creatures and, indeed, Creature blood: just _what_ makes Creatures so special?_

_ Creatures are almost never discriminated against. There are a few well-known groups (re: Death Eaters, Hunters) who advocate against Creature Kind, but their supporters are generally few and far between and loyalty is usually weak. The fact of the matter is - most families have Creature blood. _

_ Yes, that's right. Most families have Creature blood, somewhere in their lines. That's what makes Creature blood special: you wouldn't advocate for the killing and torture of your Half-Blood half-sibling, would you? Most would say 'no'. The same theory is applied here._

_ Of course this is not the only reason. Another reason is brought on by the Creature Accords of 1612. You can read more about this Section Two: **Laws**. Basically, before 1611, Creatures had sectioned off a few dozen small islands off the coast of the United Kingdom and called it their home. They had rightfully bought the territory, and by all rights they should have been left alone. They felt the need to have a separate land, where Wizards were not allowed, to keep their people safe._

_ It turned out they were right in this feeling. In late 1611, a Potions Master discovered the useful qualities of certain Creature blood and parts, and the Ministry ordered a siege on the territory. Needless to say, they lost - badly. None who departed on the attack returned home. As a result, the Creatures threatened death and destruction unless certain agreements were put in place. _

_ The Creature Accords - and, in the past two hundred years, several other laws the Ministry has willingly placed - protect Creatures from the following:_

_ 1. The killing and/or maiming of a Creature for any reason except obvious defense. This law goes into detail about what is and is not seen as 'defense'. For example; taunting a dominant by threatening his submissive and/or children to get the dominant to attack so you can injure and/or kill it is not considered defense._

_ 2. _Most_ Wizard Law. For example: Creatures are not considered Wizards, and therefore are under no obligation to adhere to Wizard Law (such as Wizards do not adhere to Muggle Law), and so any law they break is punished by the Union. More on the Union, and Union Law, in Section Two._

_ 3. Interruptions in the Mating process, including but not limited to: schooling, juvenile court hearings (for laws broken proceeding their 16th birthday, after which they are no longer considered Wizards), mandatory delay for international Port Keys, etc._

_ And more._

_ The Wizarding World, after a long, tense relationship with Creature Kind, has come to regard the Creatures in a sort of awe. They have created many laws to protect Creatures, including laws that call for the execution of any who harm a submissive or a Creature's child. You could say that wizards have come a long way since the days of wanting to use Creatures for potions ingredients..._

–

Harry slipped "All About Inheritances" closed when he was finished with the first section. It was about 30 pages long, and detailed how the Ministry had come to view Creatures as sacred beings. Not exactly the most interesting reading material, but then again, it was supposed to be educational, not interesting.

The book was a large one - it probably weighed a good ten to fifteen pounds. It was bigger than any of Harry's schoolbooks, and a bit thicker as well. And the font was pretty small, which meant that 30 pages was more like 90 or 100. Harry had always been a somewhat slow reader.

It was getting on the late side – nine or ten in the evening. Harry wondered if Seamus was still away, and intended on going to invite him and Dean (and maybe Lexi, she was kind of growing on him) for a midnight snack in the kitchens as an excuse to grill them all about what they knew of creatures. Harry stood and wandered toward the door, deciding to also ask one of the four guards who patrolled the corridor if wizards could _really _be executed for hurting a Sarkany.

Professor Snape was outside of it, talking angrily with the guard.

Harry shouted out, nearly falling backwards in surprise. Snape and the guard both turned to look at him, Snape's sneer evening out to something that was not quite akin to interest.

"Potter," Snape muttered, face pinched.

"Sir," Harry responded, eyebrows high. "I thought only Creatures were allowed in this corridor?"

"You were told that all of the teachers had Creature blood."

Harry eyed Snape carefully, wondering what kind of Creature this man could be. He wondered if there was a snake Creature. Veelas were birds, right?

"I, too, am a Sarkany, Potter," Snape informed him dryly, no doubt finding Harry's confusion as amusing as the git could.

Harry blinked, quiet. Snape was a Sarkany? Perhaps that was why he and James had always been enemies. Did Sarkany have territory issues, like wolves? Harry resolved to find this out at some point, but right now, he was too curious – one didn't get many chances to talk about their Professors private lives, and Harry wasn't going to turn this one down just because he didn't like Snape.

"So you have a mate, then? Remus said that unmated dominants and unmated submissives were not allowed to interact." Well – not in so many words, but he'd said something similar.

Snape arched an eyebrow. "And why do you presume that I am dominant?"

Harry blanched. He suddenly realized that Snape had not been snotty, sarcastic, or just plain mean their whole conversation. Did Snape have a soft spot for Creatures?

Regardless, Harry puffed up proudly. "Remus told me dominants are bigger than submissives, and you're pretty much as big as the guards, who are all dominants. Just because I just found out about Sarkany, doesn't mean I'm stupid."

Snape rolled his eyes. "Don't get your knickers in a twist, Potter. I am a dominant, yes. I did have a mate, so I am not unmated."

He didn't seem wont to sharing any more information than this. Harry, who usually would have pushed the topic, understood what the past-tense 'did' meant in the statement, however, and closed his mouth. He nodded slowly, dropping his eyes to the ground out of both respect and awkwardness. He never would have thought he could have respect for the greasy bat - but something in him urged him not to upset a dominant. The man had just shared a very personal piece of information with a student he previously hated. That was enough to warrant just the smallest amount of respect, at least.

"Sir?" he questioned, still not looking up.

"What?" Snape snapped, seeming to be losing his patience.

"My dad - he was a Sarkany, right?" Remus had said that, but he wanted to ask again, he wanted another take on it.

Snape shifted a little bit, posture stiff. "Yes."

"But my mum was muggleborn."

"Yes," Snape agreed, snorting. "Your father always was a bit unconventional. Most Creatures in general cannot fathom the thought of living the rest of their life with a non-Creature, since Creatures live around 100 years longer than Wizards."

Harry tried to imagine his parents, alive. James would be big - if he was a dominant like everyone said he was. Harry made his imaginary father six-foot-four, with broad shoulders and large wings. His mum...he made her five-foot-ten in his mind, and slim, though somewhat curvy. He imagined the duo aging - still young at one hundred, though Lily was going white. At one hundred and fifty, Lily's skin was thin and wrinkled, her hair completely white. James still looked - not young, but like he was a muggle in his forties. Middle-aged. 170, Lily died. James was still middle-aged. He could take another wife - have more children - he'd live for another 130 years! But he was sad-looking. At two hundred he began going grey. At 210, he got his first wrinkle. He still looked somewhat young. 90 years is a long time. In Muggle years, he was 70. If he were a muggle he'd be in the last stretch of his life - living up to only 30 more years if he was lucky, but probably not more than ten or twenty. At 250 he looked haunted, and was finally beginning to look 'old'. He had more wrinkles, mostly laugh lines, and most of his hair was grey. At 270 he was completely comprised of wrinkles. At 290, he died.

Harry squirmed uncomfortably and attempted to picture what it would feel like, living 120 years without the love of your life. Bad, probably. He glanced up at Snape.

"Do you think-" he cut himself off, unsure of what to say. "Do you think, if they'd have lived, my dad would still have died when my mum did?"

Snape looked away for the first time in their conversation, and a sneer wrote itself across his face. "I don't have time for what-ifs, Potter."

Then he swept away, robes billowing out behind him. Harry watched him go, pondering the answer to his question as he did. He no longer felt like inviting his friends around, and he didn't feel like knowing anything more about Sarkany at the moment. He turned and slipped back into his room.

–

The following days were comprised almost entirely out of reading. Harry had owl-ordered a book called Creature Kind, which (though short) was extremely informative. It educated Harry on a lot of things he'd need to be expecting in the coming years.

The chapters were in chronological order - when he could expect what.

The first chapter was about coming into his magical majority. The process of becoming a Creature was apparently very painful - it would be normal for Harry to sleep a whole twenty-four hours afterward, just because of the pain. If he took any sort of delayed pain medication for it before coming into his inheritance (of which there were listed several kinds made specifically for that purpose), he could be asleep for two or three days, and even then he'd still be somewhat sore in the following days.

This was because most submissives would shrink a little - nobody was sure why - which meant their bones had to become smaller, and their skin and organs as well. There was also the fact that Creatures grow extra appendages - Nekos grew ears and a tail, Veela and Sarkany grew wings and claws, Fae grew wings and no claws... The extra magic boost from coming into your inheritance has also been known to make hair and nails grow. Hermione hadn't said anything about that, but her hair had been a bit longer after her inheritance, and very straight-edged, as if she'd had to cut it.

The second chapter detailed mating – and Meetings. Harry learned that Meetings were big gatherings where submissives were brought in to scent out mates. The biggest Meeting took place in the Hall of Gathering on December 1st through December 10th every year, and it was the only one that included every species. There was also a such thing as "private" Meetings, where a single submissive invited several different dominants to come participate in a miniature Meeting. It wasn't customary and generally only happened for extenuating circumstances: a pregnant submissive who needed another mate to ground their magic, a submissive whose dominant died, and so on.

The third, and most interesting (that he'd read so far) chapter for Harry was about education.

It seemed that Creatures were obligated to learn wandless and wordless magic as well as History of Magical Creatures. Because Creatures are technically a different species to wizards, their magical make-up makes it more difficult for them to use a wand. With practice, a Creature could use a wand just as well as a wizard, but that could take years, which was too long to go without protection.

–

There was a private, warded beach on the east coast of the UK. It was easy enough to find if you knew what you were looking for, or if you had the means – magic – to run across it. One moment you were walking along crowded beaches filled to the brim with swimming muggles, the second you popped into a seemingly entirely different plane. A plane where outside noise was muffled, where you could stare out for hours just watching, but nobody on the outside could see you.

Though the Dragon's Caves were invisible from outside of this small bubble of sand and water, as soon as you stepped inside the wards, they were there – magnificent, spreading in a long, thin circle across several hundred miles of ocean, that arched up and around into a circle, and then layered itself over and over, to create many circles of islands inside the first. Muggles who explored the area would sail straight from one side of the warded islands and skip straight to the other side, none the wiser. Wizards who were not Creatures would do the same. But it was not any ordinary wizard who stood, staring at the islands in the distance.

Severus Snape was an odd sight to see at a beach, what with his black dress-style pants, white button-down and black billowing robes. The wind blew his hair around wildly, but he did not attempt to tame it. Instead, he reached into his robes and drew out a small, electric blue sea-shell. A hole was drilled through one end and a string had been tied through it, intended as use for a necklace or other piece of jewelry. So that it would not get lost. Locals on the Dragon's Caves sold these trinkets for cheap, so that Creatures who did not – and could not – live on the islands would have a way back.

Severus lived on the islands, sometimes. When his mood was good enough that he did not feel like brooding in his dungeons during the summer. His home had stood empty for several summers now – five, to be exact.

Still, it was nice to have the easy transportation, and while he could just floo into his home, it was several islands away from where he needed to be. Besides, over-ocean flooing was highly unrecommended, and it always made him seasick.

Calmly, almost gently, Severus flung the blue shell into the water. Where it landed, the water shimmered and danced an iridescent purple, folding outward and outward until there was an entire platform for which to stand on. Then it grew _upward: _rising sides, seats, railings. Finally, when it was finished, the magnificent pontoon solidified, the shell dead-center.

Severus stepped forward, boarding the conjured boat and scooping up his Sailing Shell. When he turned around, the captain had appeared silently.

"Rowena's Isle, thank you," Severus said. He procured several galleons from his pocket and handed them to the Veela man, who nodded and turned to commandeer the boat.

–

Potter Manor stood near the top of a cliff on the coast of Rowena's Isle. This specific isle was rather small compared to the inner ones, several of which were congregated so close together that they'd been connected by mile-long bridges, magically suspended well above sea-level. These isles were known as the City Inners, as they were geared more toward business than living. Rowena's was one of the northernmost isles, on the outside ring, which was where the oldest families resided.

Many locals called the outside ring the Founding Circle, as it was true that the descendents of the Dragon's Caves founders mostly resided there. You could generally tell when a family settled into the Caves by where they lived – the closer to the City Inners, the newer you were. Or that was the thought; however, many newer generations purposely moved out of their family homes and closer to the Inners, so it wasn't always an accurate guess.

Carys Potter answered the door when Severus arrived. She did not looked _surprised _to see him so much as she looked _curious _as to why he was there. He visited...not _often,_ but regularly. Every year, Lily and the Potters convinced him to spend Christmas with them. So for him to be visiting in June was...different.

"Severus," she said, after a moment, and then held open the door further for him to come in. He followed her into the foyer silently.

"Lily is in the family room," Carys said, nodding ahead of them. She didn't need to – he knew where everything in this house was located.

Setting off, he had only made it a few steps when the smaller woman grasped the sleeve of his robes. Had it been any other submissive, any other _person,_ he would have given a soft warning growl and continued on.

Carys was different.

She reminded him too much of Lily, in those days before she and Potter had gotten together: strong, ready to stand up for herself, but also very much small, and weak, and in need of protection. She was _contradictory. _He was never quite sure how to act around her, and it seemed her grandson had inherited that directly from her.

"What?"

Still, that didn't mean he had to be kind.

"Have you news for us?"

Severus' lips parted slightly, and then he nodded once – and shook his head in the negative. "Not news, no. I have just come from speaking with your ...grandson for the first time after he's learned of his Inheritance. It was an experience."

"A bad one?"

"An experience," he repeated, dryly. His mother had always told him that experiences were one in the same, bad or good: the only difference is what you take away from it. He'd taken away sorrow, not all his own, and yet, still, a sort of..._pride?_

He found most of the Potters gathered round in the family room. Charlus and Dorea, heavily pregnant, lounged around with a book. "Names Are History: The Names of the Most Prominent Wizards of All Time."

Lily and James were also there, James stretched out on the couch with his head in his wife's lap. He spasmed slightly whenever Dorea sighed wistfully and murmured, "Oh, I wish naming was easier."

The younger Potter generation – which consisted of Dorea and Charlus' children, Ignatius, Isabelle, Alora, and Adeline – were nowhere in sight. He let his guard down slightly, sitting heavily in the chair across from the couch.

"Hullo," Charlus murmured, not really looking up. "Magnus, maybe?"

"That's terrible," Severus responded, also not really looking up. Lily and James gave small sounds of agreement.

"News?"

"None," he sighed. "I could not deal with being that close to him any longer. I was afraid I would break and tell him everything."

"You wouldn't," Lily laughed, as if the very idea was impossible. "What did he do?"

"He asked about you," Severus said, eyes slipping closed. "And James, of course. He's been doing his research since the wolf told him."

"What'd he say?" James asked excitedly, rolling up into a sitting position. He looked tense, and Severus knew why: the fact that _he _was allowed to interact with James' only child was unbearable to the younger dominant.

Severus closed his eyes again, unwilling to allow that thought much freedom.

"He asked if I had a mate, then, and told me I was a dominant. Told me why, as well, citing the wolf's reasoning of why he would _almost _definitely be a submissive. But I was speaking to the guard before that, the one that's stationed just outside of his room – Harry spoke to Seamus Finnigan about All About Inheritances. I could tell he spent most of the afternoon reading."

He could feel Lily's smile – he knew her too well to ignore it. He continued on. "He seemed to know that it was – _not conventional – _for a Sarkany and a muggleborn to mate, and was quite troubled to know about the differences between your life spans."

At this mention, both Lily and James grimaced heavily.

"But he thinks we're dead," she said after a second.

"He was imagining you alive," Severus agreed. "After a few moments he asked me a question that I've been wondering myself for years. 'Do you think, if they'd have lived, my dad would still have died when my mum did?'"

"Definitely," James sighed, nuzzling back into Lily as if she were the dominant and he, the submissive. "Forever," he told Lily, hooking his pinky finger through hers.

"Till death do us part," Lily laughed.

"That's a muggle saying, even in the afterlife I'll love you."

Severus looked away, not uncomfortable so much as he felt it was a private moment shared between two of the only people he could say were his friends.

Perhaps that was why it was so hard to deal with their son.

* * *

_Welp. How are you guys liking this length? The chapters I've already written are all around 5000-6000 words, which (imo) is a pretty good length, not too long but not too short. I decided to introduce Lexi in earlier than I did last time, because established!friendship will make it easier for Draco to fall in with the group, no? :P_

**_Last Chapter:_**_ When I think of summer, I think (go figure) of writing and relaxing. Also swimming. _

**_New Question:_**_ When meeting new people, are you often more blunt or friendly?_


	4. Vincibility and Small Victories

_A/N:: :) Back again! Hoo. I really like this chapter because I like to imagine submissives standing up for submissive rights and such :D **HOWEVER, THERE IS A SCENE THAT MAY CAUSE DISTRESS TO SOME READERS. I WILL MARK IT WITH *WARNING: TRIGGERS (SUICIDE)* WHEN I COME UPON IT!**_ _You may wish to skip it if that sort of thing makes you uncomfortable._

_My update schedule is once weekly, in case you haven't guessed, usually on Wednesday sometimes Thursday. I'm going to try and stick to it, but please don't get harried that I can't - I have school most Mondays and every Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday, and I work Friday-Saturday-Sunday and some Mondays, so I rarely get a day off..._

**_Disclaimer:: I own the things you do not recognize. ^-^ JKR owns the rest._**

* * *

**Sarkany Secrets**

_Chapter Three; _Vincibility and Small Victories

–

**All About Inheritance** by Giovanni Gale

Section Two: **Basic Information about Undiseased Creatures**

_...most Creatures are alike in general bodily functions. All Carriers are Submissives (and vise-versa), and no Dominants can Carry. Male Submissives are Carriers, and female Dominants are not. But such as there is a subtle difference between a human and a wizard, there are differences between Veela,Fae, Sarkany, Neko, and the other Ministry-protected Creatures. There are also similarities, of course. Submissives of all species exude a sort of aura that demands gentleness, and Dominants are usually the rougher of the two._

–

_**Veela**_

_ The most noticeable difference between a Veela and a wizard is, of course, the famed Allure. Submissives who have not yet learned to control their Allure will often subconsciously use it on humans, wizards, and even other Creatures. The Allure, however, is meant to first, and foremost, help in the mating process. After that, it is nearly useless, except when a Submissive is being attacked, at which time they will often let out their Allure to make themselves so enticing that the attacker will no longer wish them harm. This is a tactic that the Veela used during the Siege on the Atlantis Circles, leaving many of the wizarding warriors helpless._

_ Veela are often thin and fair in coloring, with light hair, eyes, and skin. They are vain, prideful creatures, but they can also be playful, and know when to drop their pride. Submissive Veela are hard-pressed to reach 5'5", while Dominant Veela usually well surpass 6'. _

_ Veela have sharp wings, which are normally misconstrued as being metal, as they are the same color and consistency. This is not true. The wings are sharp, hard scales that can be used to cut and attack with, but are not suited to flight.__ Veela feathers are _extremely_ sharp, and the creatures have been known to pluck feathers during battles and throw them like knives.__As a Veela grows, his or her wings will grow and often shed to be replaced by sharper, stronger scales. It is said that if you were to pull a scale out of the wings, you could count the rings on the inside and be able to tell how old the Veela in question is. This is an illegal practice._

_ Veela do grow claws in their natural form. Submissive Veela have extremely acidic claws, and their fangs are venomous. __Veela venom can cut through a foot of steel in three minutes._

_ Veela are extremely strong child-bearers, carrying never more than one child at a time. Veela are able to carry children only into their thirties, however, which doesn't leave a lot of time for a lot of children. As such, many submissives choose to have children at a very young age – sixteen to twenty five. Gestation lasts 10 months, and children are generally born with a full set of teeth. _

–

_**Sarkany**_

_ Sarkany do not have anything such as an Allure, and blend in much better in 'normal' society than Veela. Sarkany can have any range of coloring, from fair blond and blue eyes to bright red hair and brown eyes. Most notable in their appearance is arguably their wings._

_ Humans imagine Angel wings as fluffy, white wings that are nearly as tall as the Angel and curve slightly over their shoulders, with feathers like a bird's. Sarkany are often fondly called the Angel species by other creatures, if only for their wings, which are much the same as an Angel's is portrayed._

_ There are no feathers, however, only scales. The back scales are soft and featherlike until flight, in which they lock together and form a smooth barrier. The front scales are harder and smoother, and are often sought after for their use in many rare potions. Submissive Sarkany often form preening circles with each other, cleaning and arranging each other's back scales. _

_ Dominant Sarkany have colored scales. Their wings, like bird wings, are bright, colorful, to better attract a mate. They are usually a few shades of the same color, and common colors include red, blue, and green. Submissive Sarkany, before they are mated, have pure white wings, though, sometimes, more powerful Sarkany will have feathers with golden streaks. After they are mated, the majority of their scales will turn the same color as their mate's, but some will stay white._

_ In their natural form, a Sarkany's legs, arms, face, and back will also be covered in small, translucent scales, which are smooth and impossible to remove unless shed naturally, which is incredibly uncommon. The scales are so small and clear that unless you know they are there, you probably will not see them, but they do give a sort of ethereal shine to the skin._

_ Sarkany eyes also slit, like the dragons their species are rumored to have come from. Some dominants also grow horns on their wings, arms, and head when they are in full Sarkany form. _

_ Sarkany pregnancies are relatively stable, and their fertile periods can last well into their hundreds. Each clutch can contain anywhere from one to ten young, depending on the carrier's gender, size, and strength. A typical clutch is three, after the first, which is never more than two._

–

_**Neko**_

_ While most creatures must physically choose and copulate with their chosen alpha to become mated, Neko often instinctively know who their mate will be and, when found, will sometimes mate over something as little as eye contact or a handshake._

_ Neko are one of the few species who have completely rejected the use of Submissive and Dominant as groupings, and instead embrace Alpha and Omega. This is because there is a third Neko group, the Beta. Betas can be either pregnant or impregnated, and each Omega Neko has both an Alpha and a Beta and often, after they themselves have been impregnated, the Beta is also impregnated._

_ This is because Neko pregnancies are extremely weak. They will usually carry six or seven kits in a litter, and but often all but one or two will die, as gestation – which is between three and four months – does not allow enough time for the babies to fully develop. Neko kits, after birth, are extremely hardy, but during pregnancy any small bump, bruise, or illness can kill a fetus. Many Alpha Neko choose to keep their pregnant mate hidden away for the four months it takes to give birth, butsome (who are not able to keep their mate hidden) choose to use unproven methods to keep their young safe. Examples of such are protection wards around the Omega, soaking every 4 hours in a hot herb water, and praying nightly to a figure of high faith (often a powerful ancestor)._

_ Neko, in their natural form, grow ears, a tail, claws, and fangs. They are graceful creatures and, in contrast to Sarkany or Veela, are extremely flippant on showing off their extra appendages. They are often reluctant to show their tails, however, and nobody is quite sure why. Neko fangs have a numbing venom, which can paralyze pray for upwards of four hours..._

–

Living at Hogwarts without the hustle and bustle of hundreds of other students was great for Harry. He found that it was nice and peaceful to wander the corridors during the evening by himself, sometimes carrying _All About Inheritances_ and looking for a place to read.

On the third day after they arrived, which happened to be July 5th, Harry opened up that Marauder's Map inside the Creature Corridor and was shocked to find that it _was _on the Map. The Weasley twins must never have found it, though, and he'd never seen it before today. But then, if his father had truly been a Sarkany – he'd have found a way to get it on there, secretly.

At night all thirty-two of them made a habit of "sneaking" down to the grounds. As school was not in session, there were no curfews, and it was lovely to take a dip in the Black Lake after the heat of the day. Still, they found that the guards would follow them if they were seen in more than groups of two or three. So they made a habit of slipping out quietly in pairs, trying to get it as close to the switching of the guard as possible.

Sometimes there were only four guards who lounged in the corridor. Sometimes there was more. Today happened to be a "more" day, and Harry soon found out why.

They rapped on his door at ten past nine, waking Harry from a sleepy snooze on his backless settee. He rolled to his feet irritably and, though he was in his pajamas, popped open the door.

Outside was a harried-looking older man of about ninety. Next to him was Eames, the lead guard, in full uniform. The older man was wearing fancy dress robes, a head covering that looked much like a cloth crown, and a golden sash over his robes.

"This could have waited," Eames was protesting.

"Nonsense. It's been so long since we've had this many omegas, we want to keep track of them all," the older man said, smiling gently at Harry. "Hello, dear boy. Would you care to join the rest of the group?"

"You could have gotten the register from Professor McGonagall! She's been keeping very good track of them!" Eames exclaimed.

"Where are we going?" Harry yelped as he was pulled from his rooms. The door shut behind him and his key, which had been setting on the coffee table, materialized around his neck.

"Just out in front of Nicodemus and Venecia's Fountain," cooed the older man.

Harry cocked his head as he saw the excess guards, who all looked rather lost. There was one every few yards in the Creature Corridor, and even more blocking the exit in the rotunda.

Most of the others were in a similar state of dress as himself, who was wearing flannel pajama bottoms (that actually fit him) and an oversized black t-shirt, which the guards found amusing (it did read "Cute But Evil", but still). His sock-clad feet muffled his footsteps as he joined a sleepy-looking Seamus, Dean, and Lexi right on the edge of the fountain. Dean was wide awake, and that might have something to do with why he was soaking wet.

"He fell asleep," Seamus said, shrugging his shoulder nonchalantly at the questioning look. "I didn't catch him in time."

Lexi giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. She was half-dressed, like she'd been in the process of dressing when the door had been knocked on. She was wearing a pretty, wine-colored blouse that plunged well below the neckline, a white undershirt, and a necklace, but was still in her pink princess pajama bottoms and barefooted. Others around the room looked much like she did, and one girl even had white foam separating her toes for painting, and was wobbling around precariously.

"Look at this sad lot," Eames was hissing to the older man. "Official, you can't seriously think this is an appropriate time to be meeting with them?"

Harry sat on the edge of the fountain with his friends. "So what's going on?" he wondered, keeping an eye on the man Eames had called 'Official'.

"I don't know, this isn't customary, I don't think," Seamus responded quietly. "From what I've heard, I guess the Officials want to keep track of each and every one of us, but usually they just take the school's word on it–"

"_WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?_"

All of the quiet chatter went silent immediately. Professor McGonagall shoved her way through the four guards guarding the mouth of the rotunda, who all looked, frankly, stupefied. Dumbledore followed her in, and Eames stood up a bit straighter, smug.

"Thank you for joining us, Professors. It seems Official Claudiu here needed your register," Eames commented. "When he couldn't find you he decided it was appropriate to wake all of your submissives up and gather them all here."

McGonagall looked _furious. _"Official! You have no jurisdiction in this school, these children are under my protection as Appointed Omega Lead for this region, as defined in Act 3 of the Submissive Laws. Not only _that, _but this room is not sufficiently warded to keep out _unwanted _visitors, whereas the corridor with all of their rooms _is. _The more submissives you have congregated together outside of the wards, the stronger their scent is going to be, which will draw any unmated dominants in the area to them! This is highly unsafe. Please, head back into the corridor," she told them.

"Forgive me for asking," Dumbledore said, as the first already-Inherited submissives were ushered up to Nicodemus, the Neko in the fountain. "But isn't this highly inappropriate, as well? The state of dress some of these students are in should not see them outside of their private rooms," his tone was calm and inquisitive, but those twinkling blue eyes showed a hidden anger. "And if I'm not mistaken, Miss Abbott here only came into her Inheritance last night, and should still be in bed."

Hannah was being carefully manhandled back through the portrait by another submissive, who was cooing and petting her hair gently.

"The Union has taken a great interest in this year's crop of omegas," Official Claudiu said stiffly, albeit with a stressed kindness. "There was even talk of sending them all to the Atlantis School, for added safety, however I was highly against it."

"What's the Union?" Harry asked, whispering into Seamus' ear. He and the other three had yet to get off the fountain and were, instead, waiting till the very last second.

"It's like the Ministry, but for Creatures. As soon as we Inherit, we no longer have to follow the Ministry's laws," Seamus responded. "We have our own sets of laws."

"Preposterous! To think of sending children so far away from everything they've ever known. No, I would not stand for such a thing!" McGonagall raged. "You can't rip newly Inherited children from their comfort zones, it would not only be cruel, but it could possibly be fatal!"

"Please calm yourself, Madame, or I will have to report you to the board!" Official Claudiu gasped.

"What is this about, pray tell?"

Harry's neck snapped up. The silky, dangerous voice of his least-favored Professor was now a blessing. Snape sauntered in and the guards did nothing to attempt to stop him, regardless that he did not have a mate. He knew that the other dominants respected Snape, if only _because _of the loss of his mate.

"Severus," Claudiu sniffed. "I was under the impression that you were visiting friends in the islands."

"I was," Snape replied. "But it's curious, they informed me of your decision to meet with our students even though I, Appointed Assistant Omega Lead, was out of town. So I, of course, rushed here so you would not have to delay your meeting."

"Good on you," Claudiu said, a bit approvingly, as if he hadn't heard the sarcasm that dripped like acid from Snape's mouth. "But now we can commence."

"I'm sure," McGonagall said, slowly, "That you will understand when I say that you, Official Claudiu, are unwelcome here at this time, and you should reschedule your visit to allow us time to accommodate you."

"I am afraid that that will not be happening," Official Claudiu responded. "There are no laws that say that I, an Official, can be barred from meeting with the submissives in their schools."

"Very well," Snape snapped. The last of the submissives were departing, and the rotunda looked frighteningly empty without them. "But you will postpone your meeting until _all_ of our students are in appropriate attire, and if they refuse to speak to you, you must leave them be. We will reconvene after lunch. Until then, you are barred from the Creature Corridor under Act 4 of the Submissive Laws, which states that the privacy, safety and comfort of all unmated submissives will be upheld regardless. If you attempt to enter the corridor before I and Minerva allow you to, we will report you to the Union for not upholding the well-being of our students. Thank you."

The duo walked forward at the same time, motioned Harry, Lexi, Seamus, and Dean (who had fallen back asleep and nearly fell into the fountain again) up, and they all five disappeared through to the Corridor.

"The nerve!" McGonagall griped as she ushered the students all back to their private rooms. They were still convened out in the hallways. "Please, if you would all dress appropriately by noon and be back in this hallway by twelve thirty, it would be greatly appreciated. You are dismissed."

Harry looked over his shoulder curiously as he and Seamus headed back to Harry's rooms. Eames had come through, looking irritated, and initiated a hissed conversation with the two "Appointed Omega Leads".

"That was fun," Seamus said, stretching out on the backless settee, where Harry had been sleeping. Harry began tugging his clothes off as he headed to the bathroom.

"I'm going to shower, Shay, be right out!"

–**_*WARNING: TRIGGERS (SUICIDE)*–_**

Sirius paced in the bathroom, cursing himself for being such an idiot. _It was supposed to happen weeks ago, Sirius, _he told himself. _It's now or never. Before Moony can–_

Remus was out. He'd be out for a several more hours, but Sirius had been making excuses about why he needed to prolong his "life" and not fake his death this soon. But now he had no reason to, and if he prolonged it even further, his lover's hurt would only double.

He turned, making up his mind, to face the object he'd been avoiding looking at. It was a golem, it looked just like him. It sat on the closed toilet lid, staring at him with those blank eyes.

"Okay," he said, forcing all of the breath out of his lungs. "How are we going to die, Sirius? Something believable. Can't do a fire, that would be too suspicious, and plus some of these things are Moony's... can't Avada myself, so that's out of the question, and we don't want to do spells anyways because that would give it all away..."

It would have been so much easier if he'd just done it fifteen years ago, when he was supposed to, instead of being thrown in Azkaban. At least then he'd had a plan. Suicide, it was supposed to be. So intensely pained over the loss of Lily and James that he'd killed himself, but no, he'd had to be stupid about it.

"But why can't we still do it the same?" he wondered, mouth twisting. "Moony would never forgive me, but I-I..."

There was a razor blade in the bathroom cabinet. He wondered if he should do it here, in the bathroom, or somewhere else? But he decided, a bit sadly, that, if Remus truly loved him as he did Remus, there would be no easy place to see his body.

Painstakingly, he pressed the blade into the golem's hand, and then carefully lifted those hands – his hands – and began making smooth, even lines across each wrist.

He could barely look. The warm liquid that spilled onto him made him retch, because it wasn't fake, it was _his _blood, running through the veins of a vegetable-like golem.

When he figured there would be enough cuts for 'him' to bleed out, he stepped back and let go of the golem, which continued gripping the razor blade and sitting up. After a few minutes, it went slack, slumping to the side. Sirius stayed to make sure the golem 'died'.

And then, slipping his wand, a few knuts and sickles, and the photograph Moony knew he always carried into the pocket of the golem's pants, he brought out the port-key he'd been holding onto for all these weeks. He murmured the password, which would give him three minutes.

–_***END TRIGGER WARNING (note that from now on there will be slight mentions of suicide)*–**_

He almost lost his nerve, then, imagining a brightly-grinning Remus entering their home, slipping off his shoes and discarding his bag. He imagined Remus talking to him, like he did every day: "Sirius! I'm home. Merlin, work was terrible today, some idiot tipped his hot coffee onto me... it was an accident, but still. How was your day? ...Sirius?" and coming to investigate the silence. Sirius imagined that he'd smell the blood at the foot of the stairs, begin to panic, and rush up them. He'd follow the scent to the first door on the left, into their ensuite bathroom. He'd pause, and then push the door open, and then...

He couldn't do it. He couldn't do that to Remus, not after everything. And Harry, what about Harry? Sure, it would only be a few months, just till December, or maybe January, but by then Harry would be all grown up, and neither of them would ever forgive him...why did he have to do this? Why now? What was the point of them all pretending to be dead, anyway? To alienate Harry? Well that was already done!

The port-key activated. Sirius yelled, "No! No, no, please, no," and tried to drop it, but he couldn't, his fingers wouldn't move. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to cry, and when he opened them, he was standing in the _other _Potter Manor, this one on Rowena's Isle, an island in the Atlantis Circles.

He was embraced. His heart soared, it had been so long since these arms had held him, since he'd smelled that distinctly _James _smell, like peppermint and sunshine and _spice. _He clung to his brother like his life depended on it.

"Thank god," Lily breathed from somewhere nearby. "I was beginning to get worried."

"I'm sorry it took so long," Sirius said, wiping his streaming eyes and smearing the golem's blood across his face. "You look amazing, both of you, you've aged well."

He felt like a kid again, like he was still nineteen years old, comin' round to the Potter house for breakfast on Sundays, teasing James and Lily about their impending marriage, sitting in the sunniest seat at the breakfast nook.

"Were you having second thoughts?" James asked, worriedly. His best mate, his brother, looked so amazingly like Harry that it was ridiculous. It'd been too long, he'd nearly forgotten. But Harry also looked Like Lily, in a more subtle way. They would be so proud of him.

"Kind of," he admitted. He could tell these people anything. "I-I– Remus and I are kind of a thing now. I didn't want to..."

"I understand," Lily murmured, hugging him gently.

"Why did I have to come still?" he asked, a bit desperately. He noticed they were alone. "What's the point, if in five months you're going to reveal yourselves, anyways?"

James and Lily looked at each other. "We told you years ago, Sirius. If James and I had raised Harry, Voldemort would be nearly impossible to beat. We don't know why. So many more people would die, though."

"What's that got to do with _me?_" he snapped. "Don't you _trust _me anymore?"

They didn't. He could see that immediately in their faces. It hurt something, deep inside of him. Quietly, he murmured, "That's just as well, but Harry's never going to forgive any of us. You know that, right? Your gorgeous son is going to hate us."

"It's for the best," James decided, after a moment.

"Don't you see what you're doing to him? You care more about other people dying than your own son's hurt! I won't ever do that to my child, not ever," Sirius snarled.

"You have a child?" Lily asked, at the same time that James moved to shove him.

"I _care _about _surviving _this war," James growled. "I care about my _son _surviving this war, and if we had raised him, there would be _no guarantee _of that. I want our family to come out of this more alive than dead, you prick!"

"That's why it took me so long to get here!" Sirius screamed through James' rant. "I had to be sure, I had to know before I left."

James moved back, looking at Sirius stomach, both shocked and still enraged.

"What difference would it make?" he finally asked, softer. He understood, then.

"If I wasn't pregnant," Sirius said, kind of gasping, "I wouldn't have come. I don't care about my own life, James. I care about my family. Remus, Harry... I would have stayed with them, out there in the real world. But I'm not just keeping myself safe by coming here, I'm keeping the baby safe. On these islands, Remus' child will not be harmed, but if I'd stayed out there... you realize there really is a _war _brewing, right? Or are you so sheltered now that you've not heard about the attacks, the deaths, the fighting?"

James and Lily looked properly shamed.

"Voldemort tried extremely hard to take over the Ministry early this year. He also nearly managed to infiltrate Hogwarts. He's finally heard the full Prophecy and he doesn't like it, not one bit," Sirius whispered. "Your son is in danger, and he's going to be in danger from now until he's killed Voldemort." _And I just left him there, _his mind told him. _Left my adoptive son to keep my biological child safe. I'm a terrible person._

–_**  
**_

"I have an idea," Harry said, later that day as they were waiting for Official Claudiu to come back. McGonagall and Snape had made their appearance again, at twelve noon exactly. They were talking quietly with Eames, seeming much calmer than before.

"Uhoh," Seamus chuckled.

"Let's all refuse to meet with that Official guy," Harry suggested. "All of us."

"Why?"

Harry grinned. "Well he's obviously bending the rules to suit himself, and you heard Snape, Claudiu had made sure Snape was gone before coming to the school. He also threatened McGonagall. _McGonagall!_"

Seamus shrugged. "Okay, let's do it."

Harry stood from where he'd been seated. He was against one wall with half of the submissives, the other half was directly across from them. He drew everyone's attention to him by standing up.

"We're not going to speak with Official Claudiu," he said slowly. "Okay?"

The others broke into hushed whispers, but they mostly sounded like they were agreeing. McGonagall, Snape, and Eames made their way over.

"What are you doing, Potter?" Snape demanded.

Harry smirked and looked up at the man who hated him oh, so much. "Making someone angry with me. My specialty." Seamus stood quickly.

"I'm with you, mate," he said. "Official Claudiu rubs me the wrong way. And not in the sexy way," he added as an after thought. Some of the others giggled softly, but soon most of them were standing.

"I believe that Professor Snape meant _why _are you doing this, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said.

Harry grinned. "Simple, really. Nobody is going to manipulate me, not without my permission. And he's being terribly rude about the entire thing, really."

With that statement the rest were standing as well, looking indignant and a bit angry. Harry marveled at his power.

"We'll not be speaking with Claudiu," he said. "None of us."

"Very well," McGonagall said, lips forming a small smile. "I'm proud of you all. Some submissives would not have the gall to go against a dominant in such a way."

"We're not just some submissives, Professor," Lexi quipped.

"Yeah, we've been raised in an era where we need to stick up for ourselves!" Seamus said.

"We won't be walked on because we're the so-called weaker group," Dean added.

"In this world, in this year, if we don't protect _ourselves_, we die," Harry agreed.

"We're the future!" shouted one small, already-Inherited submissive down the hall.

The others took up this saying: "We're the future! We're the future!" and soon it echoed up and down the Corridor, and McGonagall looked close to tears. Even Snape seemed a bit impressed.

"He won't be happy," Eames pointed out. He looked vaguely frightened, but whether it was the thought of thirty-two submissives not being, well, _submissive _or the thought of the Official being angry, Harry wasn't sure.

"Fetch him now, he'll not believe it if he doesn't hear it himself," McGonagall ordered. When Eames was gone, she smiled grimly at the submissives. "This war will win itself, if all of you think this way," she commented. And then he was there, looking all too pleased with himself.

"I'll speak with this one first, then," he said, nodding to the girl across from Harry, who was first in his line.

"No," the girl said. She looked straight at Harry. "I refuse to speak with you."

"W-whatever for, my dear?" He asked, looking a tad shocked.

"It is my right not to speak with you," she responded, and sat down.

He sighed, and moved on. "I refuse to speak with you," said the next girl. "I refuse to speak to you," said the following, and on and on. Finally, when he'd gotten through both rows and it was Harry's turn to refuse, he smiled cheekily and said, "Ah...the smell of defiance. Beautiful. I refuse to speak with you as well, by the way."

Official Claudiu looked like he was going to throttle Harry, hands making a choking motion mid-air, before he backed away and pointed at the smug McGonagall and Snape.

"I'll be reporting you!" he warned, turning to leave.

"Whatever for, my dear?" McGonagall asked, feigning fear.

"For...for...for telling your students to put this act together!" Claudiu snarled.

"Oh," Harry said, still standing. "That wasn't their idea."

"Whose _was _it, then?" the Official spat.

"Mine, of course," he grinned.

"And you are?" glaringly, Claudiu took a step forward.

"Harry Potter, sir."

"I'll have you punished," Claudiu decided. "The Union will hear of this, a submissive forcing other submissives to defy a dominant, an Official no less."

"To be fair, sir," Harry said, shrugging. "I couldn't really care less. But, just to let it be known, there will be thirty-two complaints to the Union in the morning, all reading the same."

Seamus popped up next to Harry, scowling fiercely. "Yeah! 'Official Claudiu forced 32 students at Hogwarts to have a meeting with him, got angry when they refused, and threatened to punish the instigator of the refusals...'"

"And also, 'We want him knocked down ten pegs, and until he is, we will not speak with any other Official!'" Dean yelled from where he was still seated.

"Don't forget, 'We will not be manipulated'!" Lexi said.

"We are the future!" said the girl across from Harry. The chant started up again, and Harry had never felt this much pride in his fellow students before. What he'd said as just a threat to knock the Official off his high-horse had actually been _acknowledged _by the others, as if they really were going to do it. He didn't even know if you could complain to the Union, but if you could, he sure as shit would be.

"We are the future," he said softly, looking directly into Official Claudiu's eyes. "Be afraid, dominant, for submissives are no longer going to be the meek children you take us for."

Claudiu was spitting mad, but he left without any further threats. As soon as the portrait door closed, there was a raucous scream of celebration and the submissives all converged on each other, laughing and hugging. This was a victory, however small it may be.

* * *

_:D How was it? I'm kind of upset that it's not getting the kind of reviews HPATSF did, but then, I've never really been doing this for the reviews. _

**_If you have not already, PLEASE go read There Be Dragons, Harry by Scioneeris. It's very slow in the beginning (it took me about 5 tries to get into it, the first 13 chapters are the hardest), but after about chapter 13 it picks up and is soooooo good. I can't stop reading it! Scioneeris writes so incredibly well, and her characters are so amazing._**

**Last Chapter: I'm more blunt. x-x It's really bad, if they're a friend of one of my close friends I become really jealous and such, but after a few days of knowing them I calm down... it's more of a self-conscious thing methinks.**

**New Question: Read any good Creature!Fics lately? I'm answering it right here instead of next chapter;**

**The Rise of the Drackens by StarlightMassacre (obviously!)  
There Be Dragons, Harry by Scioneeris  
Arcane Academy by...I have no idea who  
There was also one other one, but for the life of me I can't remember what? Hm.**

**Love, Ky **


	5. Death and (Minor) Deceptions

_A/N:: :) Hey guys! If you haven't noticed, I'm updating primarily on Wednesdays. Hopefully this will be a working schedule._

_**READ THIS PLEASE**: I've taken some of my review replies and I'm putting them here as an explanation.  
_

_On James and Lily (and Sirius):_  
_I WANTED to make them cowardly. I wanted a story that wasn't all sunshine and daisies, I wanted Lily and James to be in the so-called Grey Area. They're not in the right here, but they're doing what they feel is best. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and all, and you can't have your cake and eat it too. They want their son to live, but they also want the rest of the world to survive, and they don't want to die. But you can't have everything you want, so the price they pay is hatred from the one they saved._

_Everyone always makes James and Lily out to be perfect doting parents. But they were just 20 years old when they had Harry, they were only children really, and they made the best decision they could at the time. They say hindsight is 20/20, and later on the two of them will realize their mistakes. I don't want Harry's relationship with them to be rainbows and sunshine. He will never forgive them, but later on they will come to a sort of "understanding" in which Harry can tolerate them in small dosages._

_James & Lily won't ever get what they fully "deserve", but Harry does make them regret it. IMO Harry's not a vengeful person, and while you'll always get a second chance in his book, what James and Lily have done is unforgiveable. There'll be a reason why Sirius doesn't get as much anger as they do._

* * *

**Sarkany Secrets**

_Chapter Four; Death & Minor Deceptions_

**All About Inheritances **by Giovanni Gale

Section Four: **Dominants and Submissives**

_**Dominants**_

_ In the Creature world, dominants (or alphas, depending upon preference) are the so-called "shields". They're bigger, usually reaching well-over six foot, with the tallest known dominant being seven foot four. They usually have the good fortune of gaining quite a bit of muscle mass at the time that they inherit, and keep it for many years. Dominants usually beginning a "growth spurt" around the time of their inheritance, and continue growing slowly in the coming years. Studies suspect that they stop growing at around twenty-five or thirty years of age._

_ While it's true that dominants are more common than submissives, they are not as common as regular wizards and as such, nearly half of any children a Creature couple has will not be Creatures. _

_ Dominants can only mate with one submissive at a time. If that submissive rejects them or dies, they are allowed to take a second, especially if they have children from the previous mateship and need to care for them appropriately. Often dominants will be able to see situations clearly, where a submissive might not. (Note: this is not always true and depends almost entirely upon the personality of the submissive and the dominant in question. For further studies on this, consult _Dominants and Submissives: A Study on Instincts _by Ace Kale.) _

_ Dominants are born without the ability to carry, whereas most (if not all) regular wizards can. Female dominants are also barren, which some Creatures assume is incorrect for lack of knowledge._

_ Dominants sometimes choose to have a family on the side, based on the fact that some dominants never mate. There's a group of dominants who believe that if you are not mated by fifty, you should settle with a 'regular' family, even if it would never be the same as mating. Some dominants also choose to have a 'regular' family after losing a mate, instead of taking a new submissive. Some dominants never feel the need to take a submissive mate, but scientists have found this is the result of a missing gene which..._

–

_**Submissives**_

_ Submissives usually never reach much more than five-foot-eight, but record holder is a male submissive who reached six-foot-one. Submissives are generally small and thin, with wide hips to make birthing easier. Submissive males also sometimes experience hip-widening, which is thought to be an evolutionary effect as they cannot actually _birth _their young. _

_ Submissives often find themselves shrinking during their Inheritances, usually only a couple of inches. Scientists believe this is to make them appear less threatening as a survival instinct. _

_ Arguably, submissive Creatures are the more dangerous of the two. Dominants never have acidic or venomous properties to their fangs or claws, and they're entirely more likely to disable you than kill you. If a submissive feels threatened and her mate is not around, she is likely to gauge out the stomach of the perceived threat. Often submissives will even do it if their mates _are _around, whether in an act of defiance to prove they can take care of themselves, or to impress or punish their mate._

_ As a submissive, you are much more likely to be loyal, calm, meticulous, or even OCD. Submissives usually have short tempers in the period after they come into their inheritance but before they mate._

_ Submissives usually partake in bonding with other submissives, and this is a healthy procedure. While dominants do not generally show great interest in befriending or interacting with other dominants, submissives crave to spend time with others of their group. Having a submissive friend helps keep them calm and level-headed, as they can share their stresses, worries, and uncertainties – which often are completely normal, and the reassurance is good for the submissive. Frequently, submissives will keep their other submissive friends for many years, even after they've had children, and many times, their child's first friend will be the child of their longtime submissive friend._

_ Submissives will take anywhere between one and seven dominants, depending upon their power level (how much magic they have). Sometimes pregnant submissives lose control of their magic and need to find another mate, in which case they call in a private meeting. _

_ Some submissive species, such as Neko and Sarkany, need to raise their body temperature in order to conceive. This results in them going into a period normally called the "heat", which lasts from anywhere between five and ten days, depending on the submissive. The heat happens on a regular basis, but the time between heats is entirely dependent upon the submissive. The shortest known span between heats was sixteen days, and the longest was seven months._

_ You can tell a submissive is beginning a new heat cycle when their diet changes. While there is no set "regular" diet for submissives, you can usually tell if they prefer vegetables, fruits, grains, meat, etc. When their heat gets closer, they will begin craving more meat than anything else, which scientists say is to prepare their body for impregnation..._

–

After Official Claudiu left, word spread fast about what had happened. The submissives themselves wrote letters to their families, the guards on duty told their families, who told their families, and so on. Within days even the Potters knew.

Severus stretched, sighing, before he sat down at the dinner table. They'd roped him into joining them when he arrived. Sirius didn't look at him, but then, that was probably a good thing.

"Any news on my boy?" James asked, in a relatively good mood.

"Yes, actually," Severus almost _smiled._ He'd never felt so proud of his students before the day thirty-two of them had stood up like that. "Recently we had a visit from Official Claudiu at the school..."

As he told them the story, he felt their disbelief. Ignatius, who was the oldest son of Charlus and Dorea, and had Inherited a dominant Neko creature in February, looked a bit terrified. He was sure that, if Ignatius' twin sister, Isabelle, were here, she would be extremely empowered. She'd Inherited a submissive Sarkany, and as such, had been collected and taken to the Atlantis School for Creature Magics, right in the center of the islands.

The Atlantis School was what the islands were named for, though residents often forgot. The Atlantis Circles were a group of islands that, quite literally, encircled the large school, which was the only thing on the island smack in the center. Creatures were wont to call the Circles what they liked – the Potters preferred the Dragon Caves, but others called the Circles Rowena's Corner, The Islands, and even Inheritance Islands. The official name was The Atlantis Circles, though.

"That's my boy," Lily said, proudly.

"'We are the future'?" Ignatius asked, snorting. "What's that even _mean?_"

"I assume it means that Harry is empowering submissives, and that he expects us to understand that they will no longer accept submissives as being meek, breakable dolls," commented Dorea idly. The ever-present Names Are History book was closed in her lap.

"He said something like that," Severus agreed. "I believe it was 'be afraid, dominant, for submissives are no longer the meek children you take us to be.'"

Lily, James, and Sirius cheered on the absent boy. When they'd calmed down, Carys served dessert, and said, a bit breathlessly;

"Only eight days until his birthday."

This started a new debate about whether his defiance would follow him through his inheritance or not. Severus, who had known the boy longer than any at the table, felt that it would, indeed. Potter without defiance was like himself without potions.

"Nice to meet you," Harry said politely, trying to escape the Great Hall. The tiny blond boy in front of him continued to speak in a rapid French, which Harry did not understand. He knew a few phrases from Fourth Year, but not enough to get through _this._

Word of his "empowering" words had spread all the way to France, where the biggest crop of submissives were being kept. Beauxbaton had requested a "meet-up", which McGonagall thought was a grand idea, and so now instead of thirty-two submissives in Hogwarts, there was seventy-eight, and there were so many guards you might have thought they were Princes and Princesses instead of submissives.

There was even a photographer for this event, who Harry dutifully avoided on his way the the Corridor.

Seamus and Dean were already hidden in the rotunda. He looked around for Lexi, but didn't see her.

"She's enjoying the party," Seamus noted, trailing his feet in Nicodemus' fountain. Venecia was in a particularly bad mood today and kept glaring at him, but as the statues could only move their faces, it wasn't that threatening.

"Did you send in your complaint yet?" Dean asked Harry, who shrugged.

"I didn't think we were actually doing that."

"Everyone else has done it except you!" Seamus laughed. "But don't worry, I've written it up already, you just need to sign it and send it off."

"'Kay," Harry grinned.

A group of giggling already-Inherited submissives swaggered by, asking for entrance from the fountain before disappearing into the Corridor. Harry sat on the edge of the fountain, opening his mouth to ask Seamus a question, before losing confidence. Neither of his friends seemed to notice.

He'd had a really bad feeling in the pit of his stomach for the last few days, and he wanted to know if anything bad had been in the news lately. He didn't read the Prophet anymore, and the Quibbler had been free of anything unhappy for several weeks now, which was a record.

"I'm going to write Remus," he said after a moment. "Don't worry, I'll write the complaint, too," he added as Seamus went to protest.

In his room, he kicked off his shoes and quickly etched a complaint to "The Union", which he set to the side to wait for Hedwig. Then he pulled out a new sheaf of parchment.

_Remus,_

_ How are things in your little corner of the world? I'd ask Sirius, but he never gives me a serious reply (ironic, as that _is _his name–_

Harry had stopped writing to contemplate the irony of the statement, wondering if he should start over, when Hedwig swooped through the open window. She looked extremely harried, dropped his letter, and flew away again.

Harry chuckled when he saw that Remus had beaten him to the punch, writing him first. He popped the seal and opened the letter. It was short, and his heart jumped into his throat as he noticed the tear-stained parchment and smudged words. He'd never seen Remus cry before, but...

_Harry,_

_ It's incredibly difficult at this moment to communicate with people, even over long distances, but I'm writing because I feel you deserve to know. By the time this gets to you it will have been several days since Sirius' death._

_ I'm sorry to have to inform you this way, pup. I will see you as soon as possible, before your birthday. I will tell you more then._

_ Love, _

_ Love, _

_ Love,_

_ Remus_

Harry's mouth opened of its own accord. The words were so smudged by the end that the first two "Love"s were barely legible, which was why Remus had written new ones.

He crumpled the paper slightly in his fingers as he tried to comprehend what they meant. Sirius' death? But... Sirius had just been fine on the train not even twenty days ago. Sure he had been a little more tired than usual, but that didn't mean he was _sick _or anything. Was he? Could he have possibly died? But that was...

Sirius was supposed to be indestructible! He had lived when nobody else had, he'd survived twelve years in Azkaban, confronted the Dark Lord with Harry last year in the Department of Mysteries, been cleared of all crimes he did not commit, he _couldn't _die, there was no way. He was untouchable.

Wasn't he?

Remus wouldn't lie. And he was so upset, he'd smudged out "love" twice before making it legible, making it seem like he'd said "Love, love, love". And he and Sirius, they were a couple now, he wouldn't joke about Sirius being dead, he wouldn't.

The paper crumpled further and he jerked up, standing. He shoved the door open, barefooted, and practically sprinted to the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore met Harry at the Gargoyles.

"Ah, I had a feeling I was needed," he said, with that tiny smile that infuriated Harry just a little bit. "Are you well, dear boy?"

"What-what...what..." Harry stuttered, rubbing his face with his free hand and taking a shaky breath. He shoved Remus' letter at Dumbledore. "Did you know? Did you know he... did you?"

Dumbledore read it, his face becoming grim. "Ah. Yes," he said, softly. "I was informed. Remus asked me not to say anything, because he wanted you to hear it from him."

"So he's really..."

"Sirius Black is deceased. He died the 19th of July, 1996," Dumbledore murmured. "I am so sorry, my boy."

Harry cried. He had no shame about crying. Submissives stared at him as they passed, whispering in French, and he wailed. Just sixteen days ago Sirius had escorted him from his Uncle's home to the train, had slept while Remus explained what was going on. Before that he'd cleaned up Potter Manor. Before that he'd started a relationship with Remus, a rather rocky one, but a relationship. Before that, he'd been acquitted. And now, regardless of all that, he was dead.

"How did he...?" Harry demanded, scrubbing at his traitorous eyes. "Was he attacked?"

"Harry..." Dumbledore sighed. "Sirius committed suicide, Harry."

Harry's mouth opened, closed, opened a second time – and closed again. A spear of ice settled in his stomach. He hunched over on himself and couldn't help but wonder if it was because of _him._ Was he the reason Sirius had killed himself?

He couldn't ask. He didn't want Dumbledore to patronize him. Instead, he whimpered,

"Everyone around me dies."

And then, unable to breath, he blacked out.

Severus was back at the Potter house on the twenty-third, which was sooner than he'd usually come back. He'd only been there yesterday to talk about Harry empowering the submissives, which had happened three days before he'd visited the Potters. He held in his hand a photograph, and when Carys opened the door she smiled brightly and ushered him in.

"I'm just here because Black made me swear I'd tell him," Severus grumbled tiredly. He'd spent all night at the brat's bedside, watching him thrash with nightmares but unable to wake him.

Carys nodded in understanding, pointing toward the family room.

"Black," he snapped, making all of the heads in the room look up as he came in. His walk was brisk and his robes were billowing, and he truly looked like a giant bat. "I do hope you lot are happy with yourselves," he snarled at them all. "Potter spent the night in the hospital wing after blacking out, brought on by his severe reaction to Black's death."

Sirius half-stood from his chair, blood draining from his face. "But he's okay, right?"

"Oh, he's fine now, but he passed out from lack of oxygen because he _COULDN'T BREATH, YOU IDIOT!_" Severus had never been so angry in his life. He didn't have anything to smack Black over the head with, so instead he dropped the photograph into his lap and whispered, deadly calm, "I have _never _felt the need to _strangle _you as much as I do _now. _You had to fake your death by suicide. All night he kept saying your name, over and over, and Dumbledore informs me that Potter thinks you killed yourself _because of him._"

Sirius was staring at the picture, which was completely still. It was Harry, in his hospital bed. He was blotchy-cheeked and crying, still asleep.

"I didn't think..."

"You never think," Severus snapped. "You do realize that Remus used an autopsy spell on your golem?"

"So?" Sirius asked, clutching the photograph of his godson.

"_So, _you were pregnant when you made the golem, so the golem was also pregnant. He will realize that you were just far enough along to realize you were pregnant, so Remus will think that you killed yourself because of the pregnancy. Because of his child."

"I don't–"

"No, you don't, because you all get to come here and hide away," Severus stated, his voice deeply disapproving. "While people like myself have to deal with the messes you leave behind. Namely an extremely upset werewolf, who has now lost his entire pack and his unborn child, and a child who is going to be inheriting in less than a week, and because of how upset he is the inheritance may be fatal."

"Enough," Lily said, standing. She looked tearful. "You know why we've done this. You said you understood."

"Yes, but I don't think you do," Severus agreed. "I don't think you _quite _understand just what you're going to be dealing with when you 'come back'. Nothing is going to be the same. Lupin will never trust you again, not fully, and your poor son is going to hate you. Do you have any idea what he went through for fifteen years with your sister? She hated you, Lily. How do you think she felt about your son? I wouldn't be surprised if they abused him. Fifteen _years, _Lily."

Lily burst into tears. Years ago, before all of this, it would have made him regret his actions. Now he only wanted to hurt her, hurt James, hurt Sirius. He knew their son when they did not. He knew the sorrow the boy felt upon learning he had no family left, none at all. He knew the boy's excitement of finding someone with a strong link to his parents, his celebration upon getting Black acquitted, knew his happiness when his two father-figures began seeing each other. Severus _understood _what they were doing. But he didn't condone it, and he didn't have to like it.

When Dorea and Charlus' young daughters, Alora and Adeline, came out to see what all the yelling was about, he turned to leave.

"In five months you'll be almost ready to give birth," Severus noted to Sirius. "Lupin will have missed the entire pregnancy. He will not have had time to come to term with having a child. I do hope you're prepared for his rejection."

He then left, to return to Hogwarts. He wouldn't be back again.

–

Harry woke to Seamus petting his hair, as he had every hour for the past five hours. He rolled until his head was in Seamus' lap, sighing. Seamus sighed under him, and he sighed again.

"Shay?" he asked, in a tiny voice. It was hard to believe five days ago he'd been yelling about not being meek.

"What'll you need then, love?" Seamus asked, and the petting stopped.

"Nothing. I just didn't want it to be so quiet," he admitted.

Seamus laughed gently, but Harry was being truthful. Since he'd found out about Sirius' death, his rooms had seemed even emptier than normal, and it felt like they were swallowing him whole at times. He tried to spend as little time as possible in them, even before the death, but now it seemed like he was constantly here.

"Let's sneak out," Seamus said suddenly. "We could go to Hogsmeade."

Harry sat up quickly. "I know a short-cut!"

In ten minutes they were calmly walking through Hogwarts, so as not to arise suspicion from the guards, to the statue of the one-eyed witch. Seamus was extremely impressed when Harry showed him the secret passage.

Getting out of the Honeydukes cellar was pretty difficult this time, each time they thought they were in the clear, they nearly got caught. Finally, they darted out and nonchalantly began browsing. A witch in the front seemed to notice, but said nothing.

Harry bought some sugar quills, which were his favorite candy. When he realized how few he'd bought, he went back in and bought some more. The witch who seemed to notice him earlier told him he was "cute" and Seamus laughed all the way to the Three Broomsticks, where they ate lunch.

They visited Zonko's, which had a small WWW display (Harry and Seamus bought almost the whole display between themselves), threw dungbombs at the Shrieking Shack for a bit (to ensure it smelled like a proper haunted house), and even popped into Gladrag's so Harry could pick up a couple of properly-fitting trousers. Finally, before they left, they went back to the Three Broomsticks to pick up some Butterbeer to take home with them.

It was probably only a three-hour trip, there wasn't much to do in Hogsmeade, but it cheered Harry up quite a bit. If only they could pop into Diagon Alley, but even he didn't think they could get away with _that._

In fact, they didn't even get away with _this. _Eames entered the Three Broomsticks as they were leaving. It was the first time either boy had seen the lead guard without his metal-like clothing, and he looked like such a _normal _person that it was frankly shocking. On his arm was a waddling submissive, probably five months pregnant. Trailing behind him was a slimmer, though still pretty muscly, dominant.

Harry and Seamus both tried to push each other into a hiding spot, Harry one direction and Seamus the other, but instead they just ended up smooshing themselves together and making a bigger scene.

Eames shook his head slowly. "No..." he said, a bit disbelievingly.

"Eames?" the submissive asked.

Harry and Seamus both looked at their toes.

"What are _you _two doing here?" Eames demanded, crossing his arms.

"We..." Seamus started, looking around for an excuse.

"Shay, we're busted," Harry sighed, looking extremely put-upon. "Now Eames is going to ruin all of our fun by sending us back to the castle and telling the guards to watch us better."

"Well, yes," Eames rolled his eyes. "Of course I am."

Looking at Shay, Harry winked the eye that the others couldn't see. Seamus' eyes dilated a little in understanding. "And after you stood up for him with the other guards, too," he said, almost tutting.

"What did they say about me?" the head guard gasped, drawing himself up. His mates looked extremely amused.

"They said you were no fun," Harry responded immediately.

"That you were rule obsessed," added Seamus thoughtfully.

"Said you needed your stick removed."

"And _Harry _said that they needed to knock it off,"

"Yeah, I said you weren't any of those things."

"And that you most certainly don't have a 'stick' that needs to be removed, how rude."

"Well...well..." Eames bit his lip. "Oh, fine, I won't send you home just yet. Have you eaten?"

They responded in affirmative, but Eames bought them some dessert anyways and sent them to sit down.

"You know you just got played but those two, right?" Cory, Eames' dominant mate, murmured.

"Oh, I know, but I'm kind of fond of those two anyways. The little troublemakers."

Eames' submissive, Lin, was really sweet. She let them feel her baby bump, but the baby wouldn't kick, and told them how nice it was to have dominants ("Even though they get very annoying sometimes," she made sure to add). She stole a bite of Harry's Treacle Tart and winked, making a "sh" gesture with her finger that made him laugh.

Cory and Eames came back with food for themselves and Lin. They ate quietly for a moment before Eames asked,

"So where are those other two troublemakers you're always around, then?"

Harry shrugged. "I dunno. Around, I guess. I think we left them in the Shrieking Shack. Shay?"

Seamus looked up, shrugging. "I thought we left them back in the Post Office? Didn't Lexi say she wanted to see the owls?"

"Who'd we leave in the Shrieking Shack then?"

"I think Thad and Anya were with us too," Seamus said, playing along. "But weren't there ten of us?"

Eames' eyes were bugging. "How did _ten _of you manage to sneak past my guards?"

"Maybe we didn't sneak past them," Harry said slyly. "Maybe we never left the castle till we got to Hogsmeade."

"Oi, don't go telling our secrets," Seamus said, bumping his shoulder against Harry's.

Harry laughed. "They'd never figure it out."

"I'm going to regret this," Eames said, sighing in a world-weary way. "But who all came with you, so that I can round them all up and not lose my job?"

"Oh, I dunno, let's see," Shay said, making a deal of thinking about it. "Harry, of course."

"And Seamus," Harry added.

"And possibly Harry,"

"And Seamus, definitely."

"I dunno I think that's it mate," Seamus said, squinting. "Just the four of us."

Eames looked incredibly relieved. "How'd you manage to get away without your two friends?"

"Easy, Lexi and Dean were busy testing how fireproof the guards are," Harry chirped. "Shoulda left you with them, Shay, you're the world's best at explosives."

"Oi!" Seamus laughed.

Eventually, Eames took them back to Hogwarts. They didn't use the secret passage, so it took longer to get back. Eames yelled at the guards for letting them escape ("But they were just going round the castle! I swear, they didn't leave the castle!"), but when he dropped them at their rooms he smiled gently at them.

"Don't give the guards too much trouble, boys. I know they're not slick submissives like the both of you and they're not that smart, but you shouldn't take advantage of them."

He left them giggling, and since it was getting late they decided to part ways.

Harry unlocked his room and slipped inside, sighing and stretching, before changing quickly into his pajamas and sitting down on the floor in front of the coffee table. He had been intending on reading some more of All About Inheritances, but the Floo alarm went off to inform him someone wanted through. He waved his wand and the fire lit up, McGonagall's face appearing in it.

"Mr. Potter, you've a visitor," she said, a bit softly. He looked at her confusedly. "Remus Lupin," she elaborated.

Harry stiffened. "Okay. Uhm...send him through?"

"I'm afraid I can't. Nobody in your rooms, except other submissives, remember?" McGonagall smiled gently. "But you can come through here."

"Okay..." he stood, a bit self-consciously as he was in his pajamas. She moved away from the fire and he stepped through immediately.

Remus looked _terrible._ He looked as if he hadn't slept in the entire five days since it happened. Harry had only known for two days, and both nights he had slept fitfully, but not badly enough to make him look like Remus did right now.

His skin was pale, his scars stood out garishly from his skin like they were brand-new. His blue eyes were dull, though they brightened softly when he saw Harry, and he was more bones than person. He was back to wearing the raggedy clothing he'd worn before Sirius forced that to a stop.

"Harry," he said, like it was a relief to see him alive and well. Who knew what he'd been thinking when he hadn't heard anything back from Harry.

"You're free to wander the castle," McGonagall told them, sitting at her desk. They nodded, but didn't move. Harry felt like Sirius' death was extremely real now that he was seeing Remus.

Remus sighed, wrapping his arm heavily around Harry and walking them out of her office. A short ways away he stopped and just stood there for a second before looking at him.

"How..." Harry didn't know what he was going to ask. How are you? How bad was it? How long till everything's okay again? How did you find him? He lost his nerve after the first word and closed his mouth. They wandered into the Great Hall and sat at the sole table.

"Gods, Har," Remus said as soon as they'd sat down, like he hadn't been able to bear saying anything lest he fall to his knees. "I've never hurt so bad in my life. Even after your parents...I only knew them for ten or eleven years, but Sirius...it's been twenty-five years, Harry, and he's gone and I don't..."

Harry hugged Remus tightly. He didn't know what else to do, so he just hugged him.

"He was in the bathroom...I came into the house after work...he'd been acting weird for days but I didn't think he was going to...to do _this. _But he was there, he'd cut his own wrists..."

Harry jerked, picturing his godfather on the floor in the bathroom, in a pool of his own blood. It should have made him retch, but it didn't. Remus tightened his arms around Harry.

"And this full moon is going to be terrible...after your dad, Harry, Moony nearly killed me, I don't know what he'll do when he realizes that I lost..."

"Your mate," Harry supplied.

To Harry's surprise, Remus started crying. Seeing him cry was worse than picturing him crying, his face turned a blotchy red and he shook as if he couldn't hold himself together any longer. There were so many tears, it didn't seem possible.

When he'd calmed down, he laughed once, bitterly.

"I didn't mean to.." Harry started, but Remus interrupted him.

"You're fine, love. I just wasn't sure if I was going to tell you until now."

"Tell me what?" he questioned.

"When I ran the autopsy scan on Sirius, I found out he was pregnant." Remus' tone was so self-loathing that it hurt Harry.

"I almost had a god-sibling," he whispered. Tears welled up in his eyes. He hadn't cried over Sirius since that first day, but he hadn't known about his almost-godsibling. Why would Sirius do this? It no longer seemed like suicide, it seemed like murder.

"Don't say that," Remus whimpered, like the words physically hurt him. Harry cried, then, and for a moment he understood why Voldemort was so scared of death.

"Why does everyone die?" Harry demanded, slamming his hands on the table. He was still crying. "It's not fair, Remus, it's not fair, why do they die?"

"I fear this one is my fault," Remus said quietly. "Sirius will have just found out he was pregnant when he started acting oddly, he was only seven weeks gone, not even two months."

Harry realized what he was saying and shushed him angrily. "Of course that's not why he did it! Don't be silly, Remus, he loved you, we both do, I bet he didn't even know he was pregnant. I bet if he had, he would have never done it."

Remus hugged him tightly, almost too tightly, but Harry didn't mind.

"You always make me feel better, Harry. I'm so glad I made it out to see you, kiddo."

They sat and chatted quietly for a few more minutes before Remus sighed.

"I should get going. It's getting late," he decided.

"Oh, but Remus, it's summer!"

"I have work in the morning," he said apologetically. "I can't take any days off, the full moon is coming up."

"But surely they understand your significant other has just died?" Harry cried.

"Harry, the muggle world doesn't take kindly to homosexuality, I would likely be fired."

"That's discrimination!" Harry protested.

"That's life," Remus sighed. "When his funeral comes around I'll take a week off, but I can't afford to lose my job yet, our house is just about paid off..."

Harry nodded understandingly. What Remus didn't know is that Sirius had paid for their little house out-right, and not just "mostly" like Remus had thought. The money Remus was "paying" on the house was going into a bank account, and it would add up quickly. Plus, Sirius no-doubt left his vaults to Remus, but he didn't say that out-loud. The will would be read after the funeral, and Remus would know then.

"Let me know when," Harry added quietly. "I'll have to come with heavy guards, it'll be past my birthday then, but..."

"I'll see you, Har," Remus murmured.

"See you," Harry responded.

* * *

_That was sad. :( This is the last chapter with Lily/James/Sirius in it for a little while (at least 5 chapters), and soon you guys will meet Izza and Iggy (Harry's cousins)... or somewhat soon at least. I haven't written that scene yet, but it's in the beginning of September and I'm through August already. :) Harry Inherits next chapter (I believe)._

**_BTW, I've been updating the first chapters so the typos are gone. If you see any, please let me know! _**

**_Last Chapter: _**_The one I couldn't remember was "Night Flight"! ^-^_

**_This Chapter:_**_ I named my new kitten Nox (like the spell)...do your pets have fandom-inspired names?_

_Love, Ky_


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